Thank you
by Mistress-sfc
Summary: COMPLETE! I'm not very good at summaries (so what else is new ) This story contains SASUSAKU, shikaino, nejiten and naruhina. They are all older and 'wiser'. Enjoy!
1. Confusion

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

"…" **Talking**

**_"…"_ Thinking**

**Genre: Romance-Romance people!!! :-D**

**Warning: The characters might not seem like themselves, because I have written them in a matured version of themselves. At least in my version of their older self.**

* * *

**Introduction**

The young ninja's have all grown up. They are all around the age of 18. A lot has happened since Sasuke tried to kill Naruto, when they were younger.

Things are finally returning to the way it was.

**Sakura** is still madly in love with **Sasuke**. Sasuke however, still pushes her away.

**Ino** is over Sasuke and now has a boyfriend called Ryu (who looks exactly like Fulle from Scrapped Princess).

**Hinata** is less but still shy and still has a secret crush on **Naruto**. As for the rest of the Konoha gang…

* * *

**Chapter 1 Confusion**

"Shikamaru!!! Come back here! Give me back my lunch!" Chouji screamed at Shikamaru who was running away with his lunchbox.

"No, you're on a diet!" He screamed back at him very amused.

"That's not funny! Give it back!" Chouji was running out of breath.

All of a sudden Ino appeared out of nowhere. Shikamaru bumped into her. He fell onto the ground. "Ouch. Watch where you're going!" He looked up to see who he bumped into too, and saw a beautiful girl with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Oh it's you Ino." He started blushing. Over the years he had grown quite fond of her. He didn't want to tell her that he loved her. Because there was always the possibility that she wouldn't return his feelings and besides she has a boyfriend.

"Sorry, I didn't see you. What were you doing anyway, running around?" She asked looking down at him, slightly annoyed.

"There you are! Gotcha." Chouji grabbed him by his jacket. "Jerk! You made me run all this way." Chouji had a red head. Either it was because of anger or exhaustion. He snatched his lunch out of Shikamaru's hand and walked away.

Shikamaru smirked. "Well, that was fun."

"How childish. When are you ever going to grow up? How you became a chuunin before all of us is an enigma for me." She gave him one last irritated look and walked away, leaving a baffled Shikamaru on the ground.

"What was that all about?" _"What's wrong with trying to have some fun?"_ He watched her leave. Lately she has been very annoyed by everything that Shikamaru does. He still didn't understand why. He stood up and followed her with his eyes. Disappointedly, he heard her say her boyfriend's name Ryu. It made his stomach turn when he saw them kiss. It was very painful for him to see them together. Every time he saw Ryu it made him wish he was him, just so that he could be the one to kiss Ino.

Before she had a relationship with Ryu, Ino had a short relationship with Shikamaru. Everybody in the village thought that they looked cute together. Those were the happy times. He could remember the time they started dating and what they would do on every Sunday. He would first go to her house and bring her breakfast in bed. Then they would go to their secret place in the woods.

He always surprised her with something new when they arrived there. He would do anything for her, even though he said that women were troublesome. But for her, he was willing to make an exception. One day he had arranged two horses and they would go horseback riding. Of course Shikamaru fell of the horse quite a few times. He thought it was too troublesome to receive some lessons. Or when they went swimming by the waterfall or that one time at night…

-Flashback-

The moon was shining brightly and there were a lot of bright stars in the sky. Shikamaru left a note on Ino's bed saying that she had to put on the dress he left right next to the note.

When she arrived at their secret place Shikamaru's mouth fell open. She looked absolutely stunning in her long, red evening gown. He was wearing a black suit and had a red rose in his hand.

"My, my Shikamaru, you look handsome." Ino smiled at him.

"Thanks. You look…" He paused and gazed at her from top to bottom. "Absolutely stunning."

Ino smiled and kept staring in his eyes. She noticed the rose in his hand. "Is that for me?"

"Uh…uh yes… yes this is for you." He stuttered still amazed of her beauty. He walked over to her and gave her the rose. He briefly kissed her. After that he grabbed her hand and lead her to the picnic blanket that was lying on the ground. It was a romantic sight with candles all around.

They sat down and enjoyed their dinner together. They were laughing and talking and having so much fun. Everything seemed perfect. But something was troubling Ino. It looked like she had something on her mind. Shikamaru decided to ignore it, because this was a special evening. Tonight was the night he was finally going to say that he loved her.

She probably already knew that he loved her, because of all the things he did for her and they were boyfriend and girlfriend for a couple of months now, but he never said it out loud. He gathered the courage needed and grabbed her hands.

"Ino, I have to tell you something… I…" He started.

"No wait Shikamaru. I have to tell you something first." She looked down and paused for a moment. She looked up again in his eyes and continued. "This has been a wonderful evening. It was the most romantic thing that anyone has ever done for me. But…" She looked down again. She stood up.

"But what?" Shikamaru was starting to get worried. Did he do something wrong? Was he going to fast? Ino turned around and all he could see was her back.

"I…eh… I have met someone…" She paused again. This time she turned to face him. She looked him in his eyes. She could clearly see that he was in shock. He wasn't expecting this. To break the silence Ino spoke again.

"His name is Ryu and he is very sweet." She looked at him to see how he would react, but he just stood there with an emotionless face. "Look I don't know what else to say. I like him and I'm breaking up with you to be with him. There! I've said it." She sighed. She knew that it was a very cold way to say it, but she didn't know how else to put it.

Finally Shikamaru spoke staring at the ground. "But, didn't I mean anything to you?"

"Ah come on Shika-kun, don't make this harder than it already is. It's not like we loved each other right?" Shikamaru looked up and stared into her eyes. She walked over to him. She placed her hand on a side of his face. "I'll see you tomorrow." She kissed him on his cheek and left, leaving a broken-hearted Shikamaru behind.

-End flashback-

Just like that, their relationship was over. He always knew that girls were troublesome. He should have never gotten involved with one. But now that he had, he can't get over her. _"Women… You can't live with them and can't live without them."_

He still doesn't understand what she sees in that guy. Sure he has the good looks and is a great ninja, but he is dominant and flirts with other girls. _"I just don't trust him."_

He walked over to where Ino and Ryu were standing. He listened carefully to hear their conversation. It seemed that Ino had found some lipstick on his shirt again.

"Who was it this time?! You're such an asshole!" She pushed him away from her and crossed her arms. She had an angry look on her face.

"Baby it was no one! My mother hugged me before I left my house. Her lips must have accidentally brushed against my shirt. I would never cheat on you, sweetie? Honey? Baby?" He pouted his lips and talked with a cute pleading voice.

He began to walk towards her. She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes and smiled a bit. That's a signal that she had already forgiven him and that she believed what he had said. He was standing beside her and wrapped his arms around her. He lifted her of the ground. Ino let out a giggle. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the lips.

"I should never have doubted you. I'm sorry." She said with a soft voice, still in his arms. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

Ryu smiled. _"Pff, I'd better be careful next time."_

Shikamaru knew that Ryu was lying. He couldn't believe that Ino bought into his story. He was getting a little bit frustrated. _"How dare that stupid Ryu treat her that way? If I was her boyfriend I would make her happy and never leave her side, no matter how hard it would be to fight temptation."_

Suddenly Ryu noticed Shikamaru presence. "Hey Shikamaru, long time no see."

Ino turned her head still holding on to her handsome boyfriend and gave Shikamaru an irritated stare. Shikamaru looked back at them and greeted Ryu. He placed his hands in his pocket and walked passed them. Before he was out of sight he gave one last look behind him. He was surprised to see that Ino was also looking at him. She had a painful and sad expression. Then Ryu said something and she smiled again and kissed him on the cheek. Shikamaru turned around and left the happy couple behind.

* * *

"HINATA-CHAN!!!"

Hinata was walking passed the ramen bar and looked up to see who called her, but who else could that loud mouth be than that blonde-haired fox boy she had a crush on. "Na…Naruto-kun?"

Naruto jumped up from his seat and went to stand next to the girl. "Hello Hinata! How are you?" He said with his infamous grin.

"I…I'm fine. How are you?" She said shyly.

"I'm doing great! Say, why don't you join me at the ramen bar. We'll have lunch together." He said as if he had just come up with the greatest idea ever.

"Me a…and you? Together? Like… Like on a date?" She blushed, pushing the tops of her index fingers together.

"Err…sure. Just like a date. Why not." He pushed her towards the stools. Hinata was blushing like crazy when he touched her arms. He released his grip on her and shoved a chair for her to sit down.

"Thank you." She sat down and heard Naruto ordering for the both of them. She looked at him from the corner of her eyes. _"Naruto-kun is so sweet to me. Maybe he does like me in the way I like him. I honestly hope so. Maybe I should just tell him how I feel. Who knows, he might have those feelings for me to."_ She chuckled at the thought of them as girlfriend and boyfriend. _"Come on girl. You can do it. Just tell him."_

"Ehh… Naruto-kun. I…" She began.

"Hey Naruto! You've finally snatched a date with a poor innocent girl?" The ramen bargirl interrupted. The girl smiled at Hinata. Hinata looked down and blushed.

"And what exactly do you mean by that?" Naruto answered.

"Oh nothing." She giggled. "Is she your girlfriend?"

"Who Hinata? NO! Haha. She is just a friend." Naruto laughed nervously. Hinata had a disappointed look on her face.

"Ah, that's too bad. You two look cute together." The girl smiled at Hinata again.

"Well you know, so would we. How about you and me go to the movies sometime and have a few drinks afterwards. What do you say?" He smiled with an evil grin as if he was up to something.

The girl hit him on the head. "Ouch!" xx

"Not in a million years." She said with slight frustration and left.

Hinata regretted going on this so-called date with Naruto. Not only did she found out that he is not interested in her and only sees her as a friend, in addition he is flirting with another girl right in front of her eyes. She wanted to get out of there and cry.

Suddenly she stood up. Naruto looked at her with a surprised face, while rubbing the bump on his head.

"Naruto-kun, I'm sorry but I just remembered that I have to do something. I have to go." She said without looking at him.

"But you haven't eaten anything yet." He wondered where this came from all of a sudden.

Without saying anything else, she turned around and started to walk away. Naruto stood up and followed her. He grabbed her arm. "Wait. What's the matter? Did I say something to upset you?" Hinata remained silent. If she didn't get out of there fast, she was going to cry in front of Naruto and she did not want that to happen.

"Oh, I get it." Naruto said. Hinata looked up. Surprised that Naruto knew what was going on inside her mind. He smiled. "It's because of the whole misunderstanding of you being my girlfriend right? I wouldn't worry about it too much, she didn't know. Besides, she's always…"

"You just don't get it do you?!" Hinata looked him straight in the eyes with an angry look. She immediately calmed down again and stared in another direction. Naruto was shocked to see Hinata like that. What happened to the shy girl he knew. He noticed that she had become more self-confident and conversational over the years, but this outburst still surprised him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. I have to go." Naruto let her arm go and she left.


	2. Love is in the air or not?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**Chapter 2 Love is in the air or not?**

"Hey Neji, hey Lee!" Tenten walked over to her classmates who were training together in the forest.

"Hi Tenten, did you come to train with us?!" Lee said with a cheerful mood as always.

"Uh no, I think I'll pass this time. I'm just going to sit in that tree and watch." She pointed at a nearby tree.

Lee looked concerned. "Wow Tenten, that's a pretty big tree. The first branchthat is thick enough to sit on is pretty high up."

"Don't worry Lee, I've climbed this tree before. I do it all the time. It's a piece of cake." She assured her friend.

"Oh really? Why did you climb it before?" He asked out of pure curiosity.

"Silly. To watch…" She stopped. She almost blurted out the real reason why she climbed that tree all the time. She blushed.

Neji looked up at Tenten. He stared at her. He noticed that she was blushing, but he couldn't understand why. Tenten detected Neji staring at her. She looked back at him and quickly turned away and blushed even more.

"Tenten? To watch what?" Lee asked her impatiently.

"Err…uh…" She tried to come up with an excuse. "Err what I meant to say was… to look at the view. It's very impressive." She stuttered.

"What view? There are only trees around here, not very interesting to see." Lee said with a little bit of suspicion, not sure if he believed his teammate.

"Just drop the subject Lee." Neji said all of a sudden. He had his eyes closed and leaned against the tree they were talking about. They both looked at him.

"But…"

"Just drop it." He opened his eyes and gazed at Tenten. She blushed and smiled at him. He smirked. "Hn." He knows exactly why Tenten has climbed that tree before. It all seems clear to him now.

He often heard a noise while he was training alone in the woods. He knew that the sound was coming from that tree, but he always assumed that it was some animal jumping from tree to tree. Now he knows better. It was Tenten spying on him, watching him. It would seem that the girl has a crush on him.

_"Why does Neji keep staring at me? Oh no, could it be…" _She swallowed._ "That he knows?"_ She couldn't stop blushing. On the contraire, she kept getting redder by the second. She was too scared to stare anywhere else but into his eyes. He was looking intently at her. She wondered what he was thinking about. It seemed that he was amused by something. He had a smirk on his face.

Suddenly he looked up at the sky. Tenten sighed, relieved that the awkward gazing incident was over. She looked to see what Lee was doing. Strangely, it looked like he was trying real hard not to say something.

"What's wrong with you?" She asked him. He remained silent. "Spit it out already."

"It's just that…" He made fists with his hands. He started to get tomato red. Tears started to well up in his eyes and he was gritting his teeth trying not to laugh.

"Well come on. What is it?!" She said impatiently.

"I know what's going on here." He chuckled. "I know why you've been climbing that tree."

Tenten looked at him with astonishment. _"Oh no. Please don't let him say it out loud"_

"You like…" He cringed his eyes.

"No Lee, don't say it!" She screamed. She was getting nervous. Her gaze went from Lee to Neji, back to Lee and back to Neji. She laughed nervously. Neji looked at her. He smirked again.

"You have a crush on…"

"No don't!" She ran over to Lee and placed her hand on his mouth. "Be quiet." She glanced at Neji. Lee grabbed her by the waist and started tickling her.

"Hahahahaha, stop it! Lee, stop it! Hahaha." She tried to keep her hand on his mouth but alas. He was tickling her so badly that she had to let him go.

Lee gasped for air and said. "You like ME!"

Tenten stopped laughing. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"You've been WATCHing me train haven't you?" Tenten looked at him with a confused face. "Come on admit it. You have a crush on me." He had a big grin on his face."

"Hmpf…how pathetic." Neji was getting ready to leave.

Tenten turned around. "No Neji wait! I don't have a crush on…" Neji left before she could say anything more. She turned around again, this time with an angry expression. "Now look what you did. He left."

"Who Neji? Let him go. Now we have some time alone. I knew that you would fall for me. No one can resist my charm." Lee laughed out loud.

Tenten punched him in the face and sent him flying onto the big tree. "I don't have a crush on you, I like someone else you idiot." She left to find Neji.

"Neji? Neji? Where are you?" Tenten decided to jump from tree to tree to cover more ground in less time. Then she remembered that Neji has another training site where he likes to practice. It was not too far from here. She turned to the right and jumped towards the direction of the place.

When she almost arrived, she slowed down and began to sneak around. She stopped in a tree she used to sit in even before Neji started training there. She glanced over the area and spotted Neji sitting against a tree with his eyes closed. He looked exhausted from training. She wanted to take a closer look, but she was afraid that he might detect her.

She couldn't resist. She wanted to see her sleeping beauty up close. She moved closer. She quietly jumped to the top of the tree he was resting against. She climbed down, nice and slow, branch for branch. She was low enough to see him, but she was surprised to see that he wasn't there anymore. _"Huh? Where did he go?"_

Suddenly she felt hands on her waist. "Aaaaah!" She quickly turned around ready to attack the one who scared her. But things didn't turn out the way she had planned. She lost her balance because of the swift spin and slipped. She tried to grab something. She felt someone's hand but could not grasp it and fell.

"Tenten!" A voice exclaimed.

Unluckily she landed on a most unfortunate way on her ankle. She screamed. "Ahhh!" She clutched her ankle.

"Tenten are you ok?!" The voice said.

She looked up to see who the voice was. It was Neji. He had a concerned face. "Uh…yeah I'm fine. Help me up." Neji grabbed her hand and helped her stand up. The moment she put some weight on her ankle she cried out in pain again. "Ouch! Shit, this hurts!"

"Sit down again. You're not fine. Let me take a look at your ankle." He gently sat her down again and examined her ankle.

"Really, you don't have to do this. I'm fine." She looked at him with a smile on her face. She thought it was sweet of him to be so worried. Neji sighed. "What is it, Neji?"

"I have good news and bad news. The good news is that your ankle is not broken. The bad news is that it is severely bruised." He said with a little bit of relief.

"What do you recommend doctor Neji?" She smirked and placed her hand on his hand that was rubbing her ankle. Neji looked at her hand and then at her face. He lifted one eyebrow. _"This girl has guts. Is she actually flirting with me?"_

"Just put some ice on it for a while against the swelling and a lot of rest. Don't put any weight on it." He stood up to Tenten's disappointment. Neji helped her up. She leaned on him with her injured ankle in the air. He placed her arm around his neck and lifted her off her feet.

"Oh my, Neji. How sweet of you to carry me." She smiled.

"Don't flatter yourself. I'm only doing this to return to the village as fast as we can." He said ignoring her lovely smile. He jumped from tree to tree. "And you have got some nerve flirting with me. It didn't take you very long to get over Lee. I thought you had a huge crush on him." He teased.

She blushed. "Who said that I was flirting with you and that thing with Lee was all a misunderstanding. I don't have a crush on him."

"I know." He smirked. Tenten noticed that he had that face again. The one that he makes when he is amused by something.

"Oh you do, don't you? And also to make this very clear, I don't spy on people." She said with a little bit of annoyance. She was irritated that Lee had guessed the fact that she does.

"Oh really, then what were you doing in that tree just now? You know, right before you fell." She blushed. "I caught you red-handed. And I'm guessing that it was you as well, all the times I went training alone."

"What? You must be joking. Now it's you who is flattering yourself." She laughed nervously.

Neji looked down at the girl in his arms. Tenten felt that he was staring at her and looked up right into his eyes. "I know it was you Tenten. No need to deny it. Lee was wrong about the fact of you having a crush on him, but he was right about one thing. You do have a crush on someone. And I know who." He said with a low and soft voice.

Tenten blushed like crazy and again she didn't dare to remove her stare from his. "I…I don't know…what you're talking about."

"I think you do." He smiled. They arrived at the village, but before he brought her home he had to do one more thing. He brought her to a back alley of the marketplace. He placed her feet on the ground. "Wha…what are we doing here?"

"Sst." He placed a finger on her lips. He moved in closer. Tenten knew what he was trying to do and she backed away, teasing him a bit. She smiled. Her back touched the wall and there was no more escape. He smirked. He leaned in real close and he was about to kiss her, when…

"Tenten!!! I'm sorry but I have to confess!" Lee came out of nowhere and bumped Neji out of the way right before he could kiss her.

"Lee! What are you doing here?" She was very surprised to see him and bummed out, because he ruined a special moment between Neji and her. She looked to see how Neji reacted, but he wasn't there anymore. He was gone. She turned to face Lee again.

"I'm sorry, but it can never work out between the two of us." He grabbed her hands. "This is going to be the most difficult thing I ever had to say to a girl, but… I'm… I'm in love with someone else. I'm sorry."

-- She looked down at the ground amazed to see how overdramatic Lee could be. "Don't cry my sweet. I'm sure you will find someone else."

Tenten decided to go along with the little play, just to get him of her back. She looked at him with her best act out teary eyes face. "It will be hard to get over you. How can I forget such a stud like you?"

"I know. It will be a long and painful road, but I'm sure you'll make it. And don't worry, we can still be friends." He said still holding her hands.

Tenten was trying real hard not to laugh. "Thank you." Lee left.

She looked around to see any sign of Neji, but with no luck. _"That jerk, he left me to walk all the way home. I'll get him next time."_ She sighed, and then giggled. _"He almost kissed me, if it wasn't for Lee he would have. I hope that the next time I see him, there will be no interruptions."_ She looked up at the sky. _"Wow, it's getting late. I'd better hurry home."_ And so she did.

* * *

"Mom! I'm going out!" Sakura grabbed her gym bag and walked to the door.

"Where are you going honey?" Her mother replied.

"To the hot springs."

"Alone? At night? Why?" Her mother asked out of curiosity.

"I'm bored and I want to relax. And what could be more relaxing than sitting in a hot spring under the stars?" She said trying to put her mother at ease.

"But alone? Why don't you go with Ino?" her mother said still not comfortable with the thought of her daughter alone at night.

"Because she's probably out doing something with her boyfriend." She was getting tired of her mom interrogating her. "Ok, I'm leaving. Bye!" She closed the door behind her.

A few moments later she arrived at the hot springs. She saw that the female part was closed due to construction work. Therefore she decided to go to the cooed spring.

She quickly changed into her pink bikini. She took a towel from her bag and walked over to the spring. She opened the slide door and immediately felt the heat coming from the hot water. _"Aaah, this is going to be so relaxing."_

She slowly entered the water with her big toe first. She then swam to the other side. She leaned against a rock. "Hmm this feels good." She closed her eyes.

"I agree."

She swiftly opened her eyes. "Oh, it's you Ryu. I didn't realise someone else was in here." She smiled at him.

He swam over to her without looking away from her stare. She looked at him with suspicion. _"What is he doing? Why can't he just keep his distance?"_ She never liked Ryu. She thought that he didn't deserve Ino, because he treated her so badly. He even tried to hit on her. When she told Ino about it, Ino said that it was just her imagination. But Sakura knew better, he did try to come on to her and she wasn't the only one.

And now here they are. All alone in the hot spring together. She wished that someone else was here so that he would leave her alone. He was now next to Sakura. A little bit too close for comfort. She moved away a bit, but when she moved he moved with her. So she moved again, but so did he.

"Could you not do that please?" She said with slight annoyance.

"Do what?" He said with an innocent voice. He smirked.

"You know what I'm talking about." She started to become angry. She didn't like playing games, especially if he's involved.

"No honestly, I don't." He smirked even more. He leaned in closer. His face was only a few inches away. He stared at her. His eyes glanced over her from top to bottom and back to the top. Sakura noticed it and was disgusted. She tried to cover her body with her arms. She could feel him undressing her with his eyes.

"You know Sakura." He whispered. "You have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen."

"That's funny. Ino told me that you said the same thing to her. She pushed him away and was about to swim to the side.

He grabbed her arm and prevented her from doing so. "No don't go, the fun is just getting started." He pulled her back and leaned forward to kiss her.

She slapped him in the face. "Get away from me you creep!" She struggled to release his grip on her, but it made him hold onto her even tighter. "Au, you're hurting me! Let go of me!" She shouted.

"You heard the lady. Let her go." A voice said behind her.

She turned to see who it was. She immediately recognised the black-haired boy who looked even more irresistible under the moonlight and with his black swimsuit on. "Sasuke-kun!" She was glad to see him. It seemed that he fancied a midnight swim as well. She didn't even hear him come in.

"Err… Hi Sasuke. I was just joking around hehe." Ryu laughed nervously. Although Ryu is a well-known, respectable ninja, he didn't want to mess with Sasuke. "Well I'd better be going. Ino is probably worried about me. Bye!" He scurried out of the spring. He gave an irritated look at Sasuke and left the two behind.

Sasuke had his usual emotionless expression on his face. He looked at Sakura. "Are you ok?"

She blushed. "I'm fine. You didn't have to do that, you know. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." She crossed her arms.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Hn… Whatever." He replied. He ran over to the water and dived in. He came up on the other side, across from where Sakura was.

It remained quiet. Sasuke had his eyes closed and wasn't paying any attention to Sakura. Sakura however, was staring at him, blushing like crazy.

"So…" She was trying to come up with something to say to break the silence. But she soon came to realise that the truth was, they have nothing in common to talk about. At least not that she knows of. He never said more than two sentences to her if they weren't talking about a mission.

"Uh…" She tried again. "So what brings you here?" She smiled.

He opened his eyes and looked at her, and then he closed them again before answering. "I was training in the woods. After I was finished, I decided to relax my muscles in the hot spring."

"Yeah you do seem kind of tense." He opened his eyes again. He saw that she was swimming towards him. _"What is she up to now?"_

She grabbed his left arm with both of her hands. He gave her a death glare. She noticed it. She reconsidered if touching him was such a great idea, but she decided to pull through. "Ah, come on Sasuke. I was only planning on giving you a massage." She said trying to reassure him.

He continued to glance at her without saying a word. She smiled. "Loosen up will you. It's not like I'm your worst enemy and this is an attempt to hurt you or something." She giggled.

She felt his body relax a bit. "Whatever." He said while turning around.

She started massaging him and Sasuke had to admit that it felt good. Even though he would never admit it out loud. He closed his eyes and relaxed, enjoying the moment. Suddenly he had a short flashback. A crying Sakura shouted I love you with all my heart! His eyes shot open. Why was he thinking about that?

"Sasuke?" Sakura had noticed that he tensed up again. "Is something wrong?"

He looked down at his reflection, which changed into an image of Sakura. He blinked and the image was gone.

"Sasuke-kun?"

"It's nothing." He lied. "I guess I just need some rest. "He turned around. Surprisingly for him he saw that he was very close to Sakura. He blushed. "Err… Thank you."

He thanked her? That is a rare thing for him to do. Although he did say it to her before. She remembered the day he left. He said thank you right before he knocked her lights out. She will never forget that day. She still couldn't comprehend what he meant by saying that to her. She has been meaning to ask him about it, but every time, she didn't have enough courage to do so. What if he already forgot about it? It has been such a long time ago. Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw him swimming towards the side.

He climbed out and grabbed his towel. He placed it on his head and dried his hair. When he was finished he wrapped the towel around his neck and walked to the door. Sakura was watching his every move.

"Oh Sasuke-kun?" He turned around. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow for our new mission. I can't wait to see the special thing that Kakashi sensei said he has planned for us." She smiled.

He smiled back at her. "I'm sure it's just another stupid mission, so don't get your hopes up."

"Yeah, you're probably right." He said his goodbyes and left.

Sakura waited a few seconds to make sure that he was gone and then screamed. "KYAAAAA!!!" She laughed out loud. "I touched him! I touched his bare skin! I can't believe I did that." She shouted at the stars.

She tried to calm herself down, but she was shaking all over and couldn't stop smiling. _"I can't wait to tell Ino about this."_ The thought of Ino reminded her of Ryu and what happened here. Her smile faded. _"I can't wait to tell her about that either. Then she is finally rid off that asshole."_ She collected her stuff and left.


	3. Arrival at Hidden Fun Island

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Chapter 3: Arrival at Hidden Fun Island**

The next day, Hinata was still feeling a bit depressed about what happened yesterday. She realised that she'd rather like living in a fantasy of ignorant bliss, than knowing the cold and hard truth that Naruto does not have any interest in her.

She felt like staying home today, but she remembered her sensei, Kurenai, saying something about an important thing she had planned for her team and that it was vital for everyone to be there.

She slouched over to the place they were planning to meet. It was a different place than where they usually assembled. She arrived at the gate of Konoha and saw her other teammates, Shino and Kiba with Akamaru.

They all looked up when they saw her approaching their location.

"Hey Hinata!" Kiba said while waving at her. Akamaru barked happily.

"Hi guys." She said, looking down.

Shino noticed her unhappy state. "What's wrong? Did something happen to you on the way here?"

Hinata looked up. "Oh it's nothing… It's just that… Ehm…"

Shino and Kiba briefly looked at each other, wondering what she was trying to say. Kiba raised his shoulders.

She finally said. "How…do you make someone like you the way you like him?" She said a little bit embarrassed.

"Wow, Hinata. Is there something you want to tell me?" Kiba said with his eyes wide open. "I mean, I like you, but I'd never picture us in a relationship. I only consider you as my friend."

"No, stupid! I don't like you. I like… someone else." She shouted, now even more embarrassed.

"Oh." Kiba's eyes fell on Shino. He thought for a second. And then he pointed at Shino. "Him?! You like him?!"

Shino looked at Kiba and rolled his eyes. "No, you idiot! She likes Naruto, it's so obvious!"

Hinata was surprised to hear that Shino knew. It made her speculate if someone else knew too.

"Everybody knows that, except you apparently and that naive Naruto." Shino said, as if he knew what she was thinking.

Hinata sweat dropped. So the whole village knows. That's just great. Kiba walked over to Hinata and placed one arm around her shoulders. He started talking to her like she asked him a question about his field of expertise.

"Listen here Hinata. If you want to get Naruto to like you, all you have to do is buy him ramen everyday and then he is bound to love you." He grinned.

Hinata felt sorry for asking them.--o"Never mind. You guys are no help at all."

"HINATA!!!"

They all turned their heads to see Naruto and his team walking towards them.

"Speaking of the little devil." Shino said annoyed.

Hinata's face cleared up and greeted Naruto. Naruto walked over to Hinata. "Hey Hinata, what happened yesterday? Why did you leave all of a sudden?" He said while scratching his head.

"Oh that… Well, lets forget about that ok?" She said nervously.

"Ok…" Naruto said, not satisfied with her reply.

Kurenai and Kakashi both appeared. Kakashi was on time for once. "Good, my team is here and so is your team Kakashi. Now we just have to wait for the other groups."

Kakashi nodded. "I might as well do something useful while waiting for them to show up. "He grabbed something out of his pocket and started reading 'Come come paradise'. They all fell down and sweat dropped. --o

"Good morning everyone. Are we ready to go?" Asuma arrived at the scene without anyone noticing him. "I brought my team along." Having said that he walked over to Kurenai and briefly kissed her. Not an unusual sight to everybody, since they all attended their wedding.

"Wait, what is going on here?" Sakura asked out of suspicion. "Is our mission that dangerous that we need other teams to work with us, Kakashi sensei?"

"No." He said without looking away from his book.

"What is it then?!" Naruto said impatiently, because their teacher didn't give them a clear answer.

Kakashi walked over to Naruto, still reading his book and hit him on the head. "Ouch!" Naruto massaged his bump. "What the hell was that for?!"

"Somebody had to teach you that patience is a virtue. I'm surprised you didn't learn that yet, every time you had to wait for me."

They all fell down yet again. --o

"He is so cool. His attitude is so modern. That's why he is my rival, Lee." Gai said all of a sudden to his pupil. He arrived at the gate of Konoha with his students.

"I understand sensei. But he is not as cool as you." Lee replied.

Gai turned and faced his apprentice. He had stars in his eyes. "Do you really think so Lee?"

"Yes." Lee nodded; he also had stars in his eyes.

"I hate to interrupt this admiration ceremony, but since we are all here, we should get going." Kakashi flipped a page.

"Did you see that Lee!" Gai pointed at Kakashi.

"Yes!"

"He remained so cool, while saying something and flipping a page of his very cool book."

"Yes!"

Kurenai sweat dropped. "You're right Kakashi, we should get going."

"Waaaaaaaaait!!!" Sakura interrupted everyone. "Could somebody please tell me, where we are going?!" She started to get really annoyed and it looked like she was about to explode. Everybody looked at her with a strange expression.

"Fine, we might as well tell them." Asuma started. "We are going on a short vacation." Everybody looked at him with a puzzled look on their faces. "It is something that the Hokage plans every once and a while. Tsunade-sama thought it was appropriate to plan it for today, because you've all been working very hard and there aren't a lot missions to do. Off course a small delegation of Ninja's will stay behind to protect the village. And if there is any serious trouble we are forced to return immediately. We will also give you mini-missions where you'll have to work in a team of two people, we wouldn't want you to forget about your training. But the main purpose of this trip is to relax. By the way we are not the only ones going on this trip, other ninjas will be waiting for us when we arrive. Anko will be our entertainment guide. And I guess that's about it."

All the students were looking at him in disbelief. Asuma smiled. He took a quick glance at his watch." We should really get going. Anko is waiting for us to start the activities."

"Why don't we have a race?" Kakashi was still reading his book. He flipped a page again.

_"Only a cool person like him can come up with such a great idea."_ Gai thought to himself.

Asuma looked at Kakashi. He grinned. "I don't have any objections." The rest of the senseis agreed to race.

"Every team sticks with their teacher." They all approved. Kakashi finally put his book away. Everybody took their starting position. "Ready? Set? Go!"

* * *

Neji, Tenten, Lee and Gai arrived first. Lee carried Tenten all the way on his back, given the fact that her ankle wasn't healed yet. Because Lee is so fast, they were able to get there without any problems.

Gai walked over to Anko who was waiting at the gate of the Hidden Fun Island. It's a secret island only known to Kages and ninjas above the rank of genin. If the common folk knew that this island exist they would stay here forever, which is not good for the villages' population. This island is especially designed for ninja's to relax and do tiny, unimportant missions designed for training.

"Are we the first to arrive?" Gai questioned Anko.

"Yes you are." The moment she said that, the other teams arrived.

Kakashi walked over to his wife. Anko embraced him. She was glad to see him. "We're gonna have a lot of fun during our time here." Anko smirked.

"Oh. What do you have in mind?" Kakashi replied.

"You'll see." She looked him in the eye with a mischievous expression.

_"He even has a cool women to add up to his coolness."_ Gai thought to himself again while staring at the two. _"He is definitely a worthy rival."_

Anko showed everybody to their rooms. Everybody was glad to hear that they all had a wardrobe, since they didn't have time to pack. Everyone had his or her own apartment with a bathroom, kitchen, living room and bedroom. After everybody was settled in they all had to assemble at the open area in the middle of the island.

The ninjas all had gathered on the square. There was a stage set for Anko so she could speak to theninjas easily. It was around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, when she started her little speech.

She welcomed everybody and explained the rules of this island. She informed them that if they had any problems they could talk to her or the other senseis. She also informed them that there was going to be a festival this evening. There were party clothes included in their wardrobe, but if someone would want to have something else they could buy something in the island shops. The mini-missions will commence a few days from now. When she was finished, she joined the other senseis for a drink.

It was very busy on the streets and the ninjas were all very enthusiastic about the festival.

"Ino! Ino!"

Ino turned around to see who was calling her. It was a bit difficult to see through the crowd. But then she saw him. She smiled. It was Ryu. Ryu smiled back at her. _"Oh good, she is smiling, that means that Sakura hasn't told her yet. Now to come up with a good excuse."_ He made his way through the crowd and when he almost reached her he saw Sakura standing next to Ino. He was surprised. Sakura grinned at him. _"Oh oh, this can't be good."_ He looked at Ino again. Her smiley face quickly changed into a frown. She slapped him in the face. _"I guess that means that she knows."_ Sakura somehow managed to find the time to tell her.

"Asshole! I never want to see you again!" Ino screamed at him.

Ryu rubbed his red cheek. "Ino! Baby! Wait! I can explain!"

Ino got angrier at every word he said. "Save it for another girl! It's over!"

Everybody was looking at the couple fighting. They started to whisper. Ryu was feeling very uncomfortable. Ino walked away. "Jerk."

Ryu had a red head of humiliation. He was thinking of something cool to say. "W…Well fine then! I don't need you! I can have every girl I want! Leave! I don't care!" He jelled in the direction where Ino had gone. He walked to his room embarrassed.

Shikamaru had heard the whole thing. He made his way through the people to find his ex-girlfriend. No luck. She probably went up to her cabin with Sakura. Perhaps its best for a girl to comfort her right now, since she is now most likely not thinking highly of men.

He saw Hinata and Tenten rushing towards Ino's cabin, which backed up his theory. They are almost certainly going to plan a girl's night. He was hoping it would help, it kills him to see Ino in so much pain. On the other hand he is glad that she is finally rid off that dickhead.

* * *

"I can not believe this! That jerk! I'm going to make him pay. Grrrrrrrr." Ino growled. She threw her pillow against the wall. She sat on her bed together with Sakura, Tenten and Hinata.

"Calm down Ino-chan. It's better that you found out. He didn't treat you right anyway." Sakura tried to calm her friend.

"I can't believe I was so blind." She started sobbing. "I broke up with a great guy for him." An image of Shikamaru popped up in her head.

"It's ok Ino-chan, I'm sure that Shikamaru will take you back eventually. He will forgive you, because he still loves you." Hinata said with a soft voice.

Ino looked at her. She calmed down. "What? But how? I was so mean to him, he can't possibly still like me."

Tenten smiled. "He loves you, there is no doubt about it. I've seen him staring at you."

Ino stood up from her bed. She was in deep thought. _"No it can't be. He never told me he loved me, not even when we were still together. They can't be right."_ "It doesn't matter anyway, he is never going to take me back. Who would want to be with such a stupid girl like me?"

"Ino." Sakura started. "He will take you back in due time, but you have to give him a little bit of time. Don't rush into things. You just broke up with someone. You need to give yourself time to get over that and Shikamaru still needs to work out his feelings for you." Sakura had a concerned look on her face.

Ino felt sad, but was comforted by her friends words. She smiled a bit. They all stood up and walked over to Ino. "Thank you. I feel much better." They all hugged.

"Now, the best way to get over a break up is to have a lot of fun with your friends and whatever you do, do not think about boys." Tenten said with a cheerful voice.

"You're right Tenten! Lets go shopping!" Sakura said with excitement. They all giggled and left.


	4. Girls day out

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Chapter 4 Girls day out**

The girls were all giggling and having so much fun. It has been a while since they all went shopping together. They bought each other nice little gifts. They had lunch together and at the end of the day they all sat down at a cosy cafe, what seemed to be THE place to be for one and all. They went to sit at the bar. The girls sighed. They were exhausted from walking all day. Their feet hurt and they all could use a massage right now. Tenten suggested that it would be fun to have a sleepover at her cabin. The girls agreed and planned to have a sleepover party at Tenten's place after the festival. Sakura ordered four cokes.

"Here you go. Four cokes for the pretty ladies." The bartender smiled and winked at Ino.

"Thank you." Ino said with a flirtatious tone of voice. She smiled back at the bartender.

Sakura noticed it. "Well, it looks like Ino is back to her old self. Flirting with every cute guy she sees." Sakura giggled.

Ino looked with astonishment at Sakura. Sakura stopped laughing and then looked at Hinata, who turned to face Tenten. Suddenly they all burst out in laughter.

"And here we were, still a bit worried about poor Ino." Tenten said still smiling. "But you have to admit Ino, aren't you glad that you're rid of that dickhead, now you don't have some guy playing with your emotions."

"But don't all guys do that?" Sakura questioned.

A moment of silence occurred...

"Hahaha, yeah you're right. All guys do. But so do we! Hahaha." Tenten replied.

"Yes, but most of the time when boys do it, it hurts the most..." Hinata said seriously while staring at her glass. "And sometimes they don't even now when they are doing it. It almost seems like it comes natural for them."

"Hey Hinata. Did Naruto do something to you? Is that the reason why you are talking so seriously?" Sakura asked her friend. Everybody stared at her.

Hinata snapped back to reality and smiled vaguely. "So I guess its true, everybody does know that I have a crush on Naruto-kun." She sighed. "It doesn't matter anyway, he doesn't like me the way I like him."

"I'm not so sure about that. You two have been hanging out a lot lately, haven't you?" Sakura asked Hinata. She nodded.

"I think that that baka will eventually develop feelings for you that go beyond friendship or already has, he just doesn't know it yet. I've known Naruto for a very long time and if there is one thing I've learned about him, its the fact that most of the time he's a little bit late with figuring things out, especially when it comes to girls." Sakura assured her friend.

Hinata smiled. "Thank you, I'm already feeling better. But hey, we are supposed to cheer Ino up and not me. And besides Tenten said that we shouldn't talk about boys anyways."

"That's true, I did say that, but do you really think that Ino needs our help? I mean look at her." Tenten pointed at Ino. Everyone looked at the direction she was pointing at. They all saw Ino checking out the bartender's ass.

"Ino!" Sakura yelled.

Ino looked at her. "What? What is it?"

"Haven't you been listening, at all?"

"To what?" Ino asked confused.

They all laughed. Ino just stared at them with question marks above her head, which made them laugh even more, and then the bartender looked up wondering what's going on, which made everyone laugh harder including Ino, who finally understood what was happening. They stood up and walked to the door, still laughing.

"Ok guys, I'll see you later." Tenten waved. Meanwhile it was already nighttime. They were all going to their rooms to prepare for the festival.

"Ok Tenten, we'll see you in just a bit." Ino smiled and waved back at Tenten.

Sakura and Hinata started walking towards their cabins. Ino followed them, but suddenly the girls in front of her stopped.

"Girls? Why did you stop?" She gazed passed them in the direction they were facing. Her eyes widened. "Shikamaru." She said surprised.

"Hey." He greeted her, while staring into her eyes. He had a strange smile on his face. Like he was glad about something. Or maybe it was just her imagination.

Hinata and Sakura, sensing the awkwardness, said their goodbyes to Ino and left to get ready for the festival this evening. Leaving Shikamara and Ino behind to talk.

Ultimately Shikamaru spoke. "Ino… I need to talk you about something."

Ino bit her lip. "Ok, walk me to my apartment.

They started walking. Ino looked up at the stars. Shikamaru couldn't take his eyes off of her. They were walking very slowly. They both didn't want the stroll to end. It was so peaceful, no worries, no stress, just her and him and the night sky.

"Ino? Can I ask you something?" Shikamaru spoke softly.

"Uhh sure…"

"Why… uhm… I don't know how to say this so I'll just say it. Why…do you hate me?"

Ino was surprised by what he said. "I don't hate you. I never said I hated you."

Shikamaru stared at the ground. They were getting closer to Ino's apartment. "It's just that… You always seem so irritated by me. Have I done something to make you angry at me?" He looked up at her. She wasn't looking at him. Instead she had a troubled look on her face and stared at the sky. "Ino?"

"I'm sorry." She mumbled.

"What?" Shikamaru moved closer to hear her better.

"I'm so sorry." She said louder this time. "I'm so sorry Shikamaru!" To Shikamaru's surprise she started crying. "I'm so sorry for how I treated you, I'm so sorry for how I left things with you, I'm so sorry for trying to ignore you, but most of all I'm so sorry…" She stared at Shikamaru with teary eyes. "That I never told you how much I loved you." Shikamaru looked back at her with an emotionless face. "Say something dammit! Go ahead tell me how much you despise me!"

Shikamaru remained silent, he went back to staring at the ground.

"Shikamaru." Ino had a desperate plea in her tone of voice. She grabbed him by the arm and they stopped walking. "You'd better say something. Go ahead, yell at me. I know you want to. Just do it, you'll feel a lot better once you get that out of the way." She kept staring at him. She sighed and let him go. She walked again, but Shikamaru wasn't following her.

"Why?" Shikamaru said loud enough for her to hear him. She stopped and turned to look him in the eyes. "I just want to know why you made it seem like you didn't want anything to do with me." He looked up this time and stared right back at her. She started sobbing.

"Because I had a boyfriend." Shikamaru didn't understand this answer. Ino started to explain. "I broke up with you to be with Ryu and yet you were constantly on my mind. I was still in love with you and it pained me that I hurt you so much. But I didn't realise this, only after all things were said and done." She paused for a moment.

"I didn't want to have these feelings for you. I didn't want to be in love with you, I wanted to be in love with Ryu. Because he was my boyfriend and not you. And I didn't want to break up with him, because then I would be all alone. It was certain that you wouldn't take me back, not after that nasty break up. So I decided to do everything to keep you out of my life and out of my heart so I could focus on Ryu. I thought that eventually I would fall in love with him and that I would be happy."

"I pretended to be annoyed by you. I acted like a bitch around you, so that you would leave me alone and that you would leave my mind. And I must admit it worked for a while. For a short period of time I was happy. But no matter how hard I tried, no matter how hard I ignored you, you were still there. In my heart, in my mind, in my life."

Shikamaru kept staring at her in disbelief. He didn't know how to respond.

"I missed you, that's why. I wasn't angry at you, I was angry at myself. For being so stupid, for making such a stupid mistake. I was in love with you, don't you understand that?" She stopped talking and turned away. She was shaking all over, she had kept this inside for months and now that it was out in the open she didn't know what to do. She was scared of the way he was going to react.

"How about now?" Shikamaru eventually said. Ino turned again and gazed at him. "Do you still love me now?" Everything went silent around them. Shikamaru couldn't do anything but stare, it was the same for Ino.

"Yes." She whispered.

Shikamaru smiled. "Good. Because I've been meaning to tell you that I love you for a while now, but you never gave me the chance."

Ino smiled back at him and wiped away her tears. "Oh really." She said in a teasing tone of voice.

"Yes really." He moved in closer and placed his hand on her thigh. He pulled her towards him. Ino placed her arms around his shoulder. Shikamaru looked into her eyes. "I love you, but you are one troublesome woman. You'd better be worth the trouble." He smirked. Ino giggled.

"Thank you…" Ino whispered

"For what?"

She gazed into his eyes and smiled. Suddenly Shikamaru understood why she was thanking him and he smiled back at her. They slowly moved their heads towards each other and kissed.

* * *

The festival was a lot of fun for everybody. Everyone showed up. They were all pleased to see Ino and Shikamaru back together again. After the festival the girls went to Tenten's place as planned. Ino however…

"What is taking Ino so long?" Sakura said aggravated. Hinata and Sakura were now already at Tenten's place. They were all waiting for Ino to begin the late night activities.

"Isn't it obvious Sakura? She ditched us for Shikamaru." Tenten said while fluffing her pillow. Hinata giggled.

"Just wait till I get my hands on her. This was supposed to be a girl's night." Sakura sat down on her mattress. Hinata went to sit beside her.

"Don't be angry Sakura, you still have me and Tenten. We can still have fun right? Just be happy that she is working things out with the boy of her dreams." Hinata calmed her.

"Well at least one of us is doing that." Tenten said out loud, not knowing that they heard her. Hinata and Sakura looked at her in shock.

"Tenten is there something you haven't told us yet?" Sakura smiled.

Tenten blushed. "No nothing…" Hinata and Sakura looked at each other and smiled. Then they faced Tenten again.

"Oeh Tenten has a crush on someone!" They shouted simultaneously.

"No! Really, I don't!"

"Fess up Tenten!" Sakura shouted.

"This is going to be a long night." Tenten sighed.

* * *

The next morning the girls planned to have breakfast at a little restaurant.

"Here it is. The place I was telling you about." Tenten showed them the direction of a nice, tiny restaurant. They sat down at a big table for twelve by the window.

"Tenten, why are we sitting at such a large table?" Hinata wondered.

"I invited the guys to join us. I called them when you were getting ready. I also called Shikamaru and Ino, but there was no answer from both their apartments. Maybe they went out early to get some breakfast elsewhere." She winked. She actually lied, Ino did pick up the phone, but informed Tenten that Shikamaru and her were going to sleep in. They would try to meet them later on.

"Hello girls!" Lee greeted the girls with a cheery voice. Right behind him was Neji. He smirked at Tenten. Tenten answered his smile with an angry look. Neji then responded by raising his shoulders. They all sat down and waited for the others to arrive. The rest of the guys soon joined them.

Hinata was sitting right across Naruto. Naruto was talking with Lee who was sitting next to him. Of course it was a very loud and energetic conversation about nothing interesting.

"Naruto you're crazy! This green outfit is a thousand times cooler, than your orange outfit!"

"No way Lee! Your outfit isn't cool at all and what's up with that hairdo?! If you must impersonate someone, than at least chose a cooler person than Gai sensei. He is like the exact opposite of cool."

Lee's eyes grew wider and he had a tear in one eye. "Take that back."

"Take what back?" Naruto questioned.

"Gai sensei IS cool, he is the coolest sensei and person that I've ever met!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Oh oh, here we go."

"He has a cool attitude, a cool outfit, a cool hairdo, a cool smile, a cool…" Lee ramped on in the background.

Naruto was not really paying any attention to him. "Blah blah blah." He mumbled.

Hinata was listening very carefully and blushed when Naruto noticed her watching him. Her cousin was sitting next to her and he also noticed Hinata looking at him.

"Hinata can I talk you for a minute?" Neji asked out of the blue.

Hinata looked at her cousin and wondered what he wanted to discuss with her. "Err… sure. Excuse us guys, we'll be right back." She said to her friends. They stood up and walked over to the hallway.

"Hinata, stop being so shy and tell him already. Or else I will." Neji had a threatening tone.

"What are you talking about Neji?" She said surprised.

Neji sighed heavily. "It's annoying you know that?"

Hinata still didn't know what the hell Neji was talking about. "What are…"

Neji cut her short. "You and your shyness." He said aggravated. "Why don't you just come clean and admit to him that you're in love with him."

Hinata blushed and gazed over to her left. She really wanted to tell him, but what's the point if he doesn't even see her other than a good friend. "Neji it's just that…" She stopped.

"What? What? Tell me, you know you can tell me anything, I'm more than just your cousin, I'm one of your best friends." He pleaded.

"He doesn't love me!" She shouted. She quickly covered her mouth with her hands. She regretted saying that so loud. She hoped that no one else but Neji heard her. Unfortunately that was not the case. Tenten and Naruto stood up and gazed around the corner into the hallway. Hinata looked at them and had an embarrassed laugh.

"Are you ok, Hinata?" Tenten asked concerned. Her eyes then fell on Neji and she gave another angry look, like it was all Neji's fault she had an outburst. She crossed her arms. Neji raised one eyebrow.

Naruto ignored the tense situation between Neji and Tenten and walked straight over to Hinata. He had a worried look on his face. "Hinata? What's wrong? We heard your voice." Luckily for Hinata they didn't hear her say the exact words.

She sighed. "Everything is fine Naruto. We're almost finished talking. Go back inside. We'll be right there." She gave him a warm smile.

Naruto hesitated for a second. He then nodded and went back inside with Tenten. Or so it seemed. He stopped just around the corner to eavesdrop on what they were saying. He was very worried about her. Hinata normally doesn't have these outbursts and this is the second time she had one. Only this time he is going to find out what is bothering her.

Hinata turned her head and faced Neji again. "Sorry for the interruption."

"Explain." Was the only thing Neji could say at the moment.

"What?"

"You know what. Explain why Naruto presumably doesn't love you."

"Naruto's eyes widened. They were talking softly, but he could hear them clearly. They were talking about him.

Hinata closed her eyes for a moment and let a tear drop. Neji felt sorry for his cousin. He walked over to her and hugged her. She hugged him back. She placed her head on his shoulder.

"Just let it all out Hinata." He comforted her.

She started sobbing. "I have been in love with Naruto ever since I was little. I've been waiting for the right opportunity to tell him that. But every time, I didn't have the courage. I was so afraid that he would say that he didn't love me back. But now I realize I've waited too long. He is not in love with me. He made that perfectly clear by telling Ayame (the ramengirl) that I was just a friend to him." She let her tears flow freely now.

Naruto could not believe what he was hearing. How is it possible that he didn't notice her true feelings for him? She means so much to him. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her feelings. How could he have been so blind? Her heart is breaking because of him. _"Sometimes I'm such a ignorant jerk. She is the only person that was always so sweet to me. I must do something to make her feel better." _"Don't cry sweet Hinata, your pain will disappear, shortly…" He whispered. Naruto turned around and returned to his seat.

"Hey Naruto! I wasn't finished talking to you!" Lee shouted at him.


	5. Heartaches

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**Chapter 5 Heartaches**

After breakfast, they all went their separate ways. Shikamaru and Ino didn't show up at all. Tenten called them again and Shikamaru told her that they had breakfast in bed. In addition he said that the gang shouldn't be expecting them to meet up later on with them, because they were going to spend the day together.

Naruto vanished almost immediately after he was done eating. Before he left he gave Hinata a strange look. She wondered what was on his mind. She decided not to pay a lot of attention to it and left to do some shopping on her own. Sakura went to her apartment, she didn't feel like shopping. She just wanted to relax and read a book.

Shino, Kiba and Chouji left to go somewhere, nobody knew whereto. Just like Sasuke. And Lee went to train in the woods with his sensei. Even when he is on vacation he is still so fanatic to train.

Neji went to the bathroom and when he came out he saw Tenten outside still talking with Shikamaru on the phone. She was laughing out loud. She had a warm laugh. He smirked. He remembered what he did, or rather what he almost did with Tenten the other day.

He walked over to where she was standing, he was a few inches away from her. Tenten didn't realise he was standing behind her. She was so caught up with Shikamaru and his jokes over the phone. She heard Ino screaming in the background telling Shikamaru to hang up already.

"Ok Shikamaru, I'm going to hang up now, before Ino haunts me down and bites my head of. It was nice talking to you, I'll see you when I see you. Bye." She hung up the phone and sighed. She looked up at the sky and closed her eyes. The sun was shining warm and brightly on her face.

"Nice weather huh?"

Tenten quickly turned around. Neji scared her. "Neji!" She said surprised. "Stop scaring me like that, you know what happened last time. Luckily Sakura healed my ankle this time, but I don't want to bother her again with another injury."

Neji smirked. "You know what happened after that right? Right before Lee interrupted us?" He said with a low, soft voice.

Tenten blushed. "Err… yes… err yes, I remember."

Neji took a step closer and slowly approached her with his head. He whispered in her ear. "Did you dream about it, dreaming that I would one day finish what we started?"

Tenten trembled. His voice was sending electric shivers down her spine. "Yes." She whispered back at him.

He smirked. "Good… keep dreaming." He disappeared. He was literally gone like the wind. Leaving a bedazzled Tenten behind.

Her eyes were wide and she was in shock. Her shock quickly turned into anger. She made a fist. She could not believe that she fell for that. _"Stupid Neji with his stupid tricks! THAT IS IT! That is the last time I'll let him trick me like that. I am not some toyhe can play with! However if he wants play, we'll play…"_ She grinned.

Sakura opened the door to her cabin and dropped down on her sofa. It was so comfortable that she didn't want to get up, nevertheless she did and went to get a good book to read.

She slouched over to the bookshelf. There were only a few books on it. _"I guess the organisers of Hidden Fun Island didn't expect anyone to read a lot here. Who can blame them? There is so much to do on this island, yet I'm here home alone doing nothing special."_ Sakura sighed. _"I desperately need a boyfriend."_ She sighed even heavier. --o

She decided to go outside and walk for a bit, her self-pity was getting the best of her. She quickly changed into a white miniskirt and a light blue top. She glanced at the mirror. You could see her bellybutton with the shirt she was wearing. This might get the attention of a cute boy. She tied her hair in a ponytail and left a few strands of hair hanging in front of her face. She approved her outfit and went on her way.

* * *

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining brightly and the birds were singing happily. It was almost to good to be true.

Sasuke was meditating under a waterfall in the forest he saw on the way to the island. It felt very relaxing and refreshing letting water run down on his back and thinking of nothing. His eyes shot open when he heard a voice. He gazed up into the direction the sound was coming from. It sounded like someone was singing. It was a beautiful and soft voice. He saw Sakura climbing over rocks. She hadn't noticed Sasuke sitting there under the waterfall.

Sasuke kept staring at her, remaining in the meditating position. She had some white flowers in her hand. When she got to the bottom of the cliff, she looked around and saw Sasuke watching her. She blushed.

"Oh hi. I didn't realise that somebody was down here."

"Nn." Was all Sasuke said.

A moment of silence. That was nothing unusual between the two, but Sakura still felt a little bit uncomfortable.

Sasuke closed his eyes again. Images of Sakura kept popping up in his head. A laughing Sakura, a crying Sakura, Sakura in pain, Sakura training, a worried Sakura and a smiling Sakura.

"Sasuke-kun? Sasuke-kun? Did you hear what I said?"

"Huh what?" He opened his eyes again.

"I said, do you want me to leave, so you can continue meditating?"

"No. Err… I mean… Do as you like." He stuttered, he closed his eyes again.

Sakura raised her shoulders and walked towards a big rock situated in the lake. She walked a bit through shallow water. The ground was very slippery. She tried her best not to trip, but she did. She fell face first in the water. "Aah."

Sasuke opened his eyes yet again. He looked around. He didn't see Sakura anywhere. He raised an eyebrow. "Sakura?" He saw the flowers that Sakura had in her hand floating around. He saw a shadow coming towards the rock he was sitting on under the waterfall. _"What is she doing?"_

Sakura's hand came out of the lake and she placed it on Sasuke's knee. He raised his eyebrow again. _"What the hell?"_ Sakura's other hand rose up from the water and she placed it on his other knee. Right before Sasuke could protest, she pushed on his knees and lifted herself up out of the lagoon and kissed him lightly on his lips. She let herself fall back in the lake.

Sasuke sat there in shock. _"Did she just kiss me?"_ The shadow was moving away again. Sakura swam towards the rock she was planning to sit on earlier. She climbed out of the water and started drying her hair.

Sasuke watched her, still in shock. Sakura saw his expression. "Haha, Sasuke stop looking at me like that. It was just a little kiss." She smiled. _"Those self-confidence lessons from Ino really paid off. First I massaged him and now I managed to steal a kiss from Sasuke. I can't believe I had the courage to do that -."_

Sasuke frowned at her. "Leave."

"Huh? What? Why?" She asked surprised.

"Just… Leave. You're breaking my concentration. Just go." He said irritated.

"But… Sasuke."

"Go!" He glared at her.

Sakura had a tear in her eye. She was being spontaneous and he was being so mean to her. It was just a modest, little kiss. He didn't have to react this way.

"Fine! I'll leave! Just like everyone else if you keep up with that attitude." She angrily wiped her tear away.

"Wait Sakura." He regret the fact that he hurt her feelings again. "Sakura?"

She didn't stop walking and didn't respond. He swam towards the side and followed her.

"Sakura, wait! Wait a minute." He said desperately. He grabbed her arm. She turned around.

"Leave me alone!" She broke free from his grasp and ran away.

* * *

It was nighttime. Nobody had seen Naruto ever since breakfast. Hinata bought some cute clothes. Shikamaru and Ino did all sorts of fun things together this day. Shino, Kiba and Chouji ended up in some café playing darts. Lee joined them later on. Sakura spend the entire day in her cabin after the incident with Sasuke. Sasuke himself also spent the day in his cabin, annoyed by his own behaviour.

Neji was somewhere on the island, nobody knew where. Probably training. Tenten was in her cabin getting ready to play a little game herself with Neji. She put on her sexiest dress and made sure she looked absolutely stunning. She had on a short black dress with low cleavage, with matching black high heel shoes. Around her neck and in her ears she had a matching diamond set of jewellery. Dark red lipstick and long black hair was the finishing touch. _"Now to find Neji."_

She opened the door and saw Neji passing by. She smirked. _"Hehe, this is going to be fun."_ Neji saw her standing by her front door.

"Why are you so dressed up?" He said dryly.

"For you of course." She gave him a warm smile.

Neji raised one eyebrow. "Oh really?" He smirked.

_"Yes he fell for it."_ She grinned. "No." She turned around and locked the door to her cabin and walked away without giving Neji a glance.

_"What the…?"_ He stood there in shock for a moment but quickly came to his senses. He rushed over to Tenten. "Hey Tenten, wait up. Where are you going then?"

"Not that it is any of your business, but I'm on my way to meet someone, a guy." She said without stopping and without looking at him.

Neji rolled his eyes. "Yeah right." He mumbled.

This caught Tenten's full attention. She stopped walking and glared at him. "For your information I do have a date with a very nice guy and just like you, even though you'll never admit it, he is attracted to me and, unlike you, he doesn't like playing games with other people's emotions." She almost shouted the words. She paused and was ready to say something else, when she saw that Neji wasn't even paying that much attention to what she said. Annoyed by his attitude she growled at him. "Why do I even bother?" She left.

* * *

_"That arrogant Neji! He doesn't even care that I have a date. He wasn't even a little bit jealous. He probably knows that this is just a stupid joke. But how?"_ She stopped walking for a second. She has been walking and pondering for a while now. Somehow she ended up in the park. She looked at the stars. She sighed. _"I guess… Neji will always be Neji. That means that he'll never admit his feelings towards me."_ "I'll just have to accept that…"

"Accept what?"

Tenten looked down again, away from the stars and saw Neji standing in front of her. "Neji? What…?"

He sighed. "I followed you."

Tenten had a look of surprise on her face.

"Don't look at me like that, it is hard for me to admit." He looked away from her stare.

There was a moment of silence. Tenten was staring at the ground and Neji had his hands in his pockets and stared at the moon. He then gazed at her from the corner of his eyes.

"So err… Where is your date?" He said carefully.

"There was no date… You were right. I got all dressed up for nothing." She walked over to a bench and took of one shoe. She started massaging her foot. "Damn heels." She mumbled.

Neji was relieved to hear that there wasn't another man in her life, but somehow he was not as happy as he should be. He realised it's because she was really hurt by the things he has done to her. He could see it in her eyes. It was time for him to grow up and stop playing these childish games. He walked over to where she was sitting. He sat down next to her and grabbed the foot that she was massaging. He placed it on his leg and he started massaging it for her.

"What are you doing?" She asked surprised.

"What does it look like I'm doing." He replied.

Tenten's expression went from surprised to sad. "Stop it." She said softly.

Neji stopped and now it was his turn to look surprised. "Why?"

"Just stop it. I can't do this with you anymore."

"Do what? What are you talking about?"

"You're making me feel good again and then the next thing I know, you do or say something, which makes me depressed or angry again."

"Tenten…"

"No wait please let me finish." She sighed. "Neji… I'm in love with you, but you are confusing me." She paused. "I don't know if you love me back, or if you only have a physical attraction towards me, or if maybe you just like playing with my feelings for your personal amusement. I only know that… I can't do this anymore."

"Tenten…"

"I don't know…" She interrupted him. "If you love me or not, but I just want to be left alone right now. I am too confused." She had teary eyes. She was afraid to look him in the eyes. She removed her foot of his leg.

"Let me make it clear for you." He leaned forward and kissed her on her lips. She tried to escape, but Neji placed his hand behind her head to stop her from doing so. He felt her relax and she started kissing him back. They wrapped their arms around each other. It was as if time itself stood still. Both Neji and Tenten wish that it were so, because they never wanted this moment to end.


	6. Mission of love

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Chapter 6 Mission of love**

Anko assembled everyone again at the square. It was time to start the mini-missions. "Hello everyone. It is time for the mini-missions. These missions are intended to help you train. Of course we don't want to spoil your fun here so these missions will just take one day. The goal is to help you learn to survive in the wild without a lot of equipment. You must reach one of the cottages spread throughout the whole forest. We won't give you a map, because in real life sometimes you have to do without a map as well. You do however get a basic food package and some ninja gear. Just in case you get scared in the dark, you will go with a companion." Anko smiled. "In other words there are two-man teams. Everybody got that?" Anko questioned the crowd.

"In which team am I?" Lee shouted.

"Yes Lee… I was coming to that. The teams are as followed:  
Team 1, Sasuke and Sakura."

"No!" Sakura shouted out of the blue. She blushed.

Anko looked at her surprised. "Is something wrong Sakura?"

"No… err… no, nothing is wrong. Please continue." She said embarrassed.

Anko continued announcing the list. "So once again the teams are:  
Team 1, Sasuke and Sakura  
Team 2, Neji and Tenten  
Team 3, Naruto and Lee  
Team 4, Shikamaru and Ino  
Team 5, Shino and Chouji  
Team 6, Hinata and Kiba.

That's it. Tomorrow at 12 all the senseis will go to the cottages to see who made it there, if someone is not there by noon, your mission will be a failure. A search team will then be assigned to find you. Any questions?" Anko looked around to see if anyone had a question. "No? Ok then, here are your goods and I'll see you all tomorrow."

Naruto was disappointed that he wasn't in the team with Hinata. But he was glad that he had a little bit more time to figure out how he was going to tell Hinata that he loves her.

Hinata sighed when she saw Kiba and Akamaru very excited. Akamaru's tail was wobbling eagerly. She walked over to them. "Come on, let's get this over with." She smiled. Akamaru barked.

Shikamaru and Ino were smooching all over. It was hard not to notice them. They were so happy that they were on the same team.

Tenten rolled her eyes while watching them. She just had to say something about it. "Ino!" Ino broke off the kiss and looked at Tenten. "A little discretion please. Take for example Neji and me. We are happy to be on the same team, but we'll do all the kissing later." She winked. Neji looked at Tenten form the corner of his eyes.

"You and Neji are a couple!" Ino asked ecstatic. Now it was Neji's turn to roll his eyes.

"Yes we are." Tenten said with a big smile. She walked over to him and grabbed his hand. She gently squeezed it. He vaguely smiled back at her.

"Oh I am so happy for you!" Ino said delighted. "Did you hear that sweetie?"

Shikamaru looked at her and nodded dryly. He wasn't paying a lot of attention to them, since he was having a discussion with Naruto and Lee about whether or not Go (Japanese game similar to chess) was boring.

"_Great another couple in our friend circle."_ Sakura thought to herself.

"Chouji lets go." Shino said to his teammate.

"Well guys, we'll see you later. Shino and I are leaving." Chouji said while eating a bag of chips.

"Oh yeah we should get going as well!" Lee interrupted the discussion.

In the background Ino heard Anko announcing to the other ninjas what the teams are. She saw that Ryu was with some ugly guy. She had an inside laugh. Shikamaru noticed the smile on her face. "Why are you laughing?"

"Oh nothing. Lets go."

They all left, leaving an irritated Sakura and a silent Sasuke behind. Sasuke watched them leave and then turned to face Sakura. "I guess we should get going as well." Without responding Sakura headed for the forest. Sasuke followed her. "Look, if you're never going to speak to me again, fine, but do it after the mission." He said a little bit annoyed.

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine!" Sakura walked passed him and they left.

* * *

It was dark and everybody had already reached their cottage. Sakura sighed. They arrived here a while ago and she was bored. Even though Sasuke objected about giving him the silent treatment on this mission, they hadn't spoken a word to each other. She stared out of the window at the stars. There were a lot of them and there were no clouds covering their beauty. She smiled.

Sasuke was sitting in a corner. Anko forgot to mention that there was no furniture, so he had to sit on the floor. Sakura glanced over to Sasuke. It looked like he was in deep thought, like always. She was wondering whether or not to say something. She hesitated for a second and then decided to break the silence after all. "What are you thinking about?" She asked him with a sweet smile.

He didn't expect that question. He couldn't tell her, he was thinking about her. "Weren't you giving me the silent treatment?" He said dryly.

"I was, but now I'm bored."

"Hn…" Was all he said.

She sighed. "Sasuke?"

He looked up.

"Why… ehm… Do you remember the day you left Konoha. You said something to me, right before you hit me." Sakura looked back at him, trying to sense if he knew what she was talking about.

"I thanked you." He responded. He gazed at the floor.

Sakura approached him and sat down next to him. "Why did you thank me? For what?" She stared back at him, patiently waiting for a reply. She finally asked him why, but she was getting nervous now that she was so close to the answer. _"What if he said thank you for not being strong enough to stop him or thank you for shutting up for a moment or thank you for giving him a reason for leaving, what if he said thank you to be sarcastic."_ She was getting even more nervous, thinking about it.

He eventually said something. "I meant…" He paused. He looked up from the floor and stared her in the eyes. "Thank you for caring."

She stared back at him, she was relieved to hear him say that. "So you don't hate me?" She whispered.

He smiled. "No I don't hate you. It might seem that way, but I don't. It's just that… It has been a while since someone truly cared for me." He was starting to feel uncomfortable, she was sitting very close to him and he didn't like talking about his feelings.

"Sasuke…" She spoke.

_"Ok, here we go. It is time to find out if your feelings are sincere. I'm sorry for what I'm about to do, Sakura."_ Sasuke thought to himself.

Sakura assembled all her courage to say what she was about to say. "I don't only care for you, you know that… I… I still lo…" Sasuke suddenly stood up before she could finish her sentence. "Sasuke?"

"…"

"Sasuke wh…?"

"Sakura." He turned around and faced her. She was still sitting on the floor. "We are close friends right?"

"Err… right." She wondered where he was going with this.

"That's all that we are and all that's all we'll ever be. Friends, nothing more. I don't love you the way you love me."

Sakura could not believe what he was saying so unexpectedly. It couldn't be true that he was actually turning her down. After all the progress she made over the years and lately with the massage and kiss. He had to be lying. To her and to himself. Why else would he allow her to do such things?

"I'm sorry I overreacted when you kissed me, but we are just friends. Do you understand that?"

"No." She mumbled. Anger started to build up inside her. "No! I don't understand! I don't understand why you're lying to me!" She was angry and she felt like she had a right to be angry. She stood up. She was sick of him, denying and never showing his emotions. She knew in her heart that he did love her. Exactly in the way she loved him.

"I am not lying to you. I'm being honest with you." He responded calmly.

"Stop it! You can try to hide it! You can put on your emotionless and cold exterior, but I know better! I know you! I can see it in your eyes!" She paused. "I've seen it. You didn't push me away when I gave you a massage. And you certainly didn't push me away when I kissed you. And don't think I didn't notice you watching me from a distance when we were together. So don't you dare tell me that you don't love me, because that is a lie and you know it."

He sighed. "Sakura would you just face the truth. I don't…"

"Love you? Yeah you said that before." Tears started welling up in your eyes. "I am not imagining things Sasuke. I felt it. You felt it."

"Sakura. I don't want to break your heart, but…"

"Well you are! Don't you realise that! Stop hurting me and just admit to your stubborn self that you do have feelings towards me!" She shouted again. Tears were running down her cheeks.

"Sakura." He said desperately.

"No!" She ran over to him and kissed him. She was holding his head in her hands. He placed his hands on hers. He wasn't struggling at all. He was allowing her to kiss him. She broke off the kiss, her tears were still flowing freely. She looked straight into his eyes. He gazed back at her. There it was again, his emotionless face.

"One last kiss to say goodbye... I don't love you." He walked away.

* * *

"Hmmm… I have the strangest feeling that something is wrong." Naruto said worried.

"What do you mean?"

"Like one of my friends is hurt." He considered checking on everyone. "Maybe I should go and make sure everyone is ok."

"Would you leave them alone fox boy. I'm sure they're fine." Lee assured him.

"Fox boy! Lee if you want to fight just say so!" Naruto said, forgetting all about what he was worried about.

"You are so short-tempered. If I had to fight you every time you called me fuzzy eyebrows." Lee rolled his eyes.

"Then you'd be dead." Naruto smirked.

"No. I'd be exhausted." Lee grinned.

"Whatever." Naruto placed his hands behind his head. "Anyways, Lee, you were giving me advice on how to swipe Hinata of her feet.

"Oh, that's right! Well I suggest that you dye your hair black, cut it like my hairstyle, whiten your teeth and wear a green outfit. If you do that, then things can't go wrong, no matter what you do. But to make it extra special. Bake a pie, throw it in her face and say this: 'My darling Hinata, even without the pie you are sweet, that is why I love you so much.'" Lee was talking with a corny, romantic voice. "She'll fall in your arms and you'll live happily ever after." Lee gave him two thumbs up.

"_He can't be serious."_ - "Thanks Lee… that was very helpful."

"Any time buddy." He smiled.

* * *

Shino and Chouji were sitting on the floor, doing nothing. Well Shino was doing nothing, Chouji was eating chips.

"Hey Chouji. Can I have some chips?"

"No."

Shino sighed and mumbled. "Whatever."

* * *

Shikamaru and Ino were snuggling in a corner of the room. Waiting for time to pass by.

"Shikamaru? Don't you find it cute that Neji and Tenten are a couple? I hope Naruto and Hinata also end up together. They are perfect for each other." Ino smiled

"How about Sakura and Sasuke?" He caressed her head.

"Sasuke doesn't deserve Sakura. That poor girl has been in love with him for so long and still he doesn't show any affection whatsoever."

"What if he tells her he loves her and she loves him back?"

Ino thought for a second. "Then I wish them the best of luck." She smiled at her boyfriend. She swiftly kissed him on the lips and stood up to prepare something to eat. "I sure hope Chouji is sharing his chips with Shino."

* * *

"Not even a few chips?" Shino tried again, asking nicely.

"No!" Chouji persisted.

* * *

Neji and Tenten were sitting across each other. Neji was meditating and Tenten was looking around the room. Her eyes fell on Neji. _"Ah man, he's still meditating."_ She sighed. _"I'm bored."_

Neji sensed her looking at him. He opened his eyes and smiled at her. She smiled back at him. _"She's bored."_ He went out of his meditating position and invited Tenten to come sit next to him.

She stood up and walked over to him. He placed his arm around her shoulders and she cuddled next to him. They looked at each other. He kissed her on her forehead. "Neji? Thank you." Tenten said all of a sudden. He was surprised to hear her say that. As if Tenten read his mind she added. "Thank you for being there when I need you."

Neji wasn't really getting why she thanked him out of the blue. He smiled. "I should be thanking you."

"For what?"

"For allowing me to love you." He whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her spine.

"You're welcome." She whispered back. They kissed.

* * *

"How about now?"

"No is no! You are not getting any chips of mine!" Chouji opened another bag of chips.

Shino frowned. _"Stingy."_

* * *

Kiba and Hinata were having a lot of fun. Kiba and Akamaru were doing tricks to cheer Hinata up, so she wouldn't think of Naruto. "Wow, good job you two! I never knew Akamaru could do that." Hinata laughed and applauded. "You should join the circus."

"No thanks. The life of a ninja suits us fine." Kiba replied with a smile.

"Are you guys hungry? I'll prepare something from the food package they gave us.

"That is very kind of you Hinata, yeah I guess we are a bit hungry. Right Akamaru?" Akamaru barked. "Oh and Hinata?" She turned around. "I'm sure Naruto will tell you he loves you. I mean, he'd be a fool not to." He blushed.

Hinata giggled. "Lets hope so."

"Yeah… Lets hope so." He whispered. _"You deserve to be happy Hinata. You've brought us so much happiness, now it's your turn to be happy, my friend."_

* * *

Shino gave up asking Chouji for some chips. He stood up and walked over to a big box that was standing in a corner. He was curious to find out what was inside. He opened it and smiled. He looked at Chouji.

"What? Why are you smiling at me like that?"

"Finders keepers." Shino said. He tilted the box a bit so that Chouji could see what was in it. His eyes widened. It was a box filled with bags of chips.

"Shino! You have to give me some!"

"No."

"Come on Shino! Don't be such a lame ass. Just a few bags!" Chouji begged.

"No."

"Shino!"

"No."

Chouji frowned. _"I should have given him a few chips."_

* * *

Sakura didn't move from the spot where she gave Sasuke 'one last kiss.' She was in some kind of shock. Sasuke decided to leave her like that, he thought it was her way of dealing with things. He was staring out of the window. Sakura's tears had dried up, but she still had red eyes from crying. She was literally speechless. Not only was her heart broken, but also it felt like somebody had ripped it out of her chest. All of a sudden she spoke. "Sasuke..." Sasuke turned his head and glanced at her. She still wasn't moving. She didn't look back at him. "Sasuke how will I ever manage without you?" Sakura felt her tears returning.

"Even though I don't love you, we can still be friends, can't we?" He replied.

She turned around and faced him. "I don't think we can." She whispered. A tear fell on the ground, soon followed by others. "I can't pretend to be your friend, when you are not mine. "You're not my friend... You are the one I love, truly..., madly... and deeply." Sasuke remained silent, carefully listening to every word she said. "I feel like dying right now. How the hell do you expect me to survive living my life as just your friend!"

"Sakura."

She ignored him and continued talking. "I have decided... that when we get back to Konoha village, I'll move to another village of the Fire country." She said dryly.

"What?" Sasuke wasn't expecting this. "Wait! You can't do that! What about your family!"

"I'll visit them regularly and when I do... I'll do my best to avoid you."

"Sakura you can't leave!" Sasuke said desperately.

"Why not? You did it before." She glared at him.

That felt like a shot below the belt. Yes he did leave, even though she begged him to stay. "You can't leave, because... then you'll be lonely."

"I told you... the day you left..." She stopped for a second. Without you... I am alone." With that said Sakura head for the door.

Sasuke ran over to her and grabbed her from behind. She stopped. She didn't fight him off. She just stood there. She turned her head to the left, so she could look him in the eye. He gazed back into her eyes. Sakura's tears were falling silently on his arms. "If I leave, I know I will always think of you, I'll always remember you, I'll always love you. But if I'd stay, I would always see you, I'd always be with you, I'd always be remembered that you don't love me too. And that... I can not handle." She said softly.

Sasuke didn't let her go. Instead he closed his eyes and said. "Thank you." He smiled. _"You convinced me, I know now that you were telling the truth."_ He thought to himself.

Sakura wasn't sure she heard him correctly. "What did you say?"

"Thank you Sakura. I am sorry. You were right." Sakura was confused. She stopped crying. "I knew that you cared for me, but I had to find out if you truly loved me. I wanted to know if you just had a silly crush on me or not, just like the other girls. But now I know… I'm so sorry for putting you through this and causing you this pain. Please, forgive me." He released his grip on her.

Sakura turned around and they stared at each other for a moment. Silence surrounded them. Without any warning Sakura slapped him in the face. And just as sudden she embraced him. She wasn't fighting back her tears anymore. She cried and cried on his shoulder. She understood why he had to test her, she would probably do the same if half of the boys her age told her that they truly loved her. She was just glad that the test was over and that she passed. She couldn't help but wonder, what was her price?

"Sakura, I love you too." Sasuke whispered in her ear.

That was her price, the ultimate gift, the only thing she needed in this world. Sasuke's love. "Thank you."


	7. Dress code: Sexy

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Chapter 7 Dress code: Sexy**

At twelve o'clock sharp the senseis picked up the pupils and went back to town. Once again everyone assembled at the square. Anko had an announcement to make. She announced that a new festival was going to take place this evening, thanks to the success of the missions. In addition, she said that the dress code is sexy. So everyone, especially the girls, should wear something sexy to this event.

Neji and Tenten were listening to Anko attentively. Neji had his arm around her shoulders. When Anko's speech was over he whispered in her ear. "If the dress code is sexy, you could wear that outfit you wore recently again.

She smiled and whispered back at him. "I have another, more sexy dress that I was planning to wear."

"What dress?" He asked curiously.

She grinned. "You'll just have to wait till tonight." She teased him. She blew in his ear. Which made Neji feel weak in the knees. She walked away.

"Wait, Tenten. I wanna know what dress."

She looked back at him. She winked and continued walking. She walked over to her girlfriends. Shikamaru was standing next to Ino with his hand on her hip. He was listening to what Ino was saying to Sakura and Hinata.

"Lets go to my place this time and prepare for the festival together. We'll do each others make-up and hair etcetera etcetera." Ino suggested excited.

The girls approved of her idea. Shikamaru raised one eyebrow. "Wait a minute, what about me? Can I join you?" He grinned.

"NO!" They all shouted simultaneously.

"Why the hell not! You wont even know I'm there." He put on his most innocent smile, but alas.

"No! Baby, you can't see me in my dress yet. I want it to be a surprise. And I don't think the girls and Neji would like it if you watched them while they got dressed." She smiled at him.

Shikamaru thought of Neji kicking his ass for a second. "You make a good point. Ok, well I'm going to play some pool with the guys then and I'll get dressed for the festival in my own cabin." Ino nodded. "I'll see you later." He kissed her on the cheek and left.

"Come on girls, lets go!"

* * *

The girls were all at Ino's place and were picking out something sexy to wear.

"How about this tight leather pants? With this top?" Ino asked.

"I thought you were going to wear a dress." Sakura responded.

"Yeah I was, but every girl is going in a dress. I just wanted to be original."

"You can be original and still go in a dress." Tenten said.

"How?"

"I'll show you." Tenten walked over to the pile of clothes that was on Ino's bed. She picked out a dress and held it before Ino. "Most of the girls are going in a black or other dark colored dress, you can go in a white one." She smiled.

"Tenten you're brilliant." Ino hugged her. Tenten laughed. "And I've got just the right shoes to go with this dress!" Ino ran to her closet and pulled out white, leather boots. They had high heels and the leather went all the way up to over her knees.

"That's a good combination Ino. You will definitely look sexy in that. A very short, white dress and long boots. It's perfect." Hinata said to her.

"Thanks Hinata. But wont I look like a whore?" She questioned her.

Hinata laughed. "No silly. It doesn't even have cleavage. You will look sexy, but classy." She assured Ino.

"Well ok. I trust your judgment. I'll go put this on." She dissapeared into the bathroom. "Now it's your turn to pick out something!" She shouted from the bathroom.

"I already know what I'm going to wear." Tenten said to her friends. She showed them her dress. Hinata and Sakura were surprised to see what Tenten was going to wear. Their mouths fell open and their eyes widened.

"Tenten, are you sure you want to wear that?" Hinata asked in disbelief.

She laughed out loud. "Don't look at me like that you two. It may seem a little bit too daring, but it looks different once I put it on."

"I hope so." Sakura laughed. "In any case, Neji is in for a treat."

"How about you Sakura? What are you going to wear?" Hinata asked with a soft voice.

"I wanted a dress where I could show off my bellybutton. Someone once told me that my bellybutton looked cute." She blushed. She took out her dress and showed it to Tenten and Hinata. They gazed at it in awe.

"That is THE dress for you. But getting back to that someone. Is there another reason why you picked this one?" Tenten asked suspiciously. She winked at Hinata. Hinata smiled back at her.

Sakura's head turned tomato red. "Err... well I... I just wanted to look nice for my boyfriend."

"I KNEW IT!" Tenten laughed.

"I heard that!" Ino rushed out of the bathroom. She was just in time putting her outfit on to find out who Sakura's boyfriend was. "Who is it! Who is it! Please don't tell me it's Ryu. I would freak out if it's him. Well tell us! Who is it! She said out of breath.

"Would you let the girl talk Ino." Tenten interuppted Ino's loud outburst. They all stared at Sakura. Anxiously awaiting her answer.

She was reluctant to say it, but eventually she did. "It's... It'sSasuke." She smiled embarrassed.

"Kyaaaaa! I'm so happy for you! It's all thanks to me though. If I hadn't gave you those self-confidence lessons you wouldn't have gotten this far." Ino grinned.

"Yeah thanks a lot. Your ideas almost backfired."

"Whatever. You got what you wanted so it doesn't matter anyway."

Sakura sighed. "Yeah, you're right. Anyway lets have a look at you. Go stand in front of the mirror."

"Oh right." Ino walked over to the mirror and liked what she saw. "Wow." Her front was all covered with the soft, white fabric of the dress, but you could still see her gorgeous curves. The dress itself was very, very short above her knees. The back was open. Underneath it she wore the long, leather, white boots to complete her outfit. In her ears she had long, diamond earrings. Her blond hair was tied into a knot with a few strands in front of her face. She had glitter gel in her hair to make her appearance even more sparkly.

"You look amazing Ino." Hinata complimented her.

"Thanks."

"As for your make-up. We'll put some white glitter eye shadow and some natural pink lip gloss." Tenten said. "I'll do it for you, while I'm putting on her make-up you can get dressed Sakura."

"Ok." She grabbed her dress and shoes and went into the bathroom.

Hinata watched Tenten as she put on Ino's make-up. Tenten noticed it. "Hinata? What are you going to wear?"

Tenten caught her off guard with that question. "Uhm... I don't know. I was planning to stay home."

"WHAT!" Tenten and Ino screamed together.

"Why?" Tenten asked surprised.

"It's just that. I have nothing to wear and I have no date for the festival. And I don't want to be in your and your boyfriend's way all the time." She stared at the floor.

Tenten stopped putting make-up on Ino's face. She had a sad expression. She hadn't realized that while they were all dressing up for their boyfriends, Hinata was the only one with no one to dress up for. "Hinata, you can't not go. You will be missed by everyone and besides, this festival is a good opportunity to get Naruto's attention." Ino tried to convince her.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, a sexy Hinata will surely caught Naruto's eye." Ino grinned.

Hinata smiled. She thought about it for a moment and finally decided to go to the festival after all. "I'm going to show that dimwit what he's been missing out on." She laughed.

Tenten continued putting on Ino's make up. When she was finished, Sakura came out of the bathroom. She went to stand in front of the mirror. She also liked what she saw. It was a short black dress with an opening around the area of her bellybutton. It looked like a top and a miniskirt, but it actually was a one-piece dress, since the two parts were connected on the back. It had low cleavage and she had on black high heel shoes. She had in long, diamond earrings and a matching diamond necklace around her neck. Her hair was the same style as Ino. She turned to face her friends. "So? What do you think?"

"You look stunning." Tenten answered.

"Thank you."

"Come on I'll do your make-up." Hinata suggested. "It's your turn to get dressed Tenten."

"Yeah. I'm sure we are all dying to find out how that dress is going to look on you Tenten." Ino laughed.

While Tenten was in the bathroom, Hinata was doing Sakura's make-up. Ino was searching for a gown for Hinata. The ones she didn't pick ended up on the floor. Hinata laughed at the sight of Ino stressed out to find the perfect outfit once more, but this time for someone else. "You know Ino, I can pick out my own dress."

"No, because then you're not going to keep to the dress code and pick something conservative. And we wouldn't want that, now do we?" She replied without looking up.

Hinata sighed. "Ok, but don't blame me when Shikamaru sees this place in the state it is now. He will never visit you again, once he finds out that you can be quite the messy type. You will never live together and won't end up getting married. He'll break up with you and you'll be miserable for the rest of your life." Hinata grinned.

Ino stopped searching. "Really?" She said with a depressed voice.

"Haha no, of course not. I was only kidding." Ino threw a pillow at her, but missed and continued her search. Hinata smiled. She finished Sakura's make-up. She went for a natural look. Light eye shadow and soft, pink lipstick.

Tenten came out of the bathroom and her beauty amazed them. She stood in front of the mirror. She had on a darkred, long dress. The only things covered on the top were here breasts. It was a top shaped like an X. At the bottom end of the X the dress continued from just below her bellybutton all the way down. At the back it was open from her neck to above her butt. She had on matching darkred high heel shoes. You could barely see them, because the dress was so long. She let her long, black hair hang loose with a strand of hair in front of her left eye. In her ears she wore small, diamond earrings.

"Wow Tenten! You look... You look hot." Ino laughed. "I think that was what you were going for. Neji will be blown away when he sees you."

"Hahaha thanks." Tenten replied.

"Tenten it's your turn to do make-up." Sakura pointed at the chair. "I'll do it for you." She smiled. "We are going for dark and mysterious. I'll use the same color red as your dress for lipstick and eye shadow."

"Ok, that sounds fine." Tenten sat down in the chair.

"Hinata, I found a dress for you." Ino called her friend.

Hinata looked at the dress. Her eyes widened. "I can't wear this!"

"Sure you can." Ino pushed Hinata into the bathroom along with the dress.

"But...!" Before Hinata could protest some more, Ino closed the door.

Luckily Hinata didn't come back out. She considered giving the dress a try and then decide whether or not to wear it. After a while she came out of the bathroom. Sakura had just finished Tenten's make-up. They were all in shock when they saw her. Hinata looked totally different than before. By the looks on their faces, Hinata quickly walked over to the mirror. Her eyes widened. She expected something different, but not this. She almost cried and fainted when she saw her reflection. It was a darkblue, long strapless gown with a very (very) high split on both sides. She had on blue high heel sandals. Her earrings were long diamonds and her necklace had one shiny gem hanging in the middle. Her hair was the same as always, but with a blue/white flower on the right side. "I look..." She paused.

Sakura walked over to her. "You look absolutely beautiful." Hinata turned around. Sakura embraced her.

"Thank you, Sakura." She returned the hug.

"Hinata, make-up time." Ino said proudly and while wiping away a tear.She waved at her.

"Oh no thank you." Hinata responded.

"What do you mean, no thank you? We all have make-up on, so you too. Get over here." Ino smiled.

"No that's ok." Hinata persisted.

"Just a little bit of lip gloss." Tenten assured her.

Hinata looked at her friends. "Uhm... well ok then. Only lip gloss."

Ino smeared some gloss on Hinata's lips "Done."

They all looked at each other and smiled. "Ok! Then lets go surprise our men." Tenten said. "Lets go!"


	8. My heart lit up

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Chapter 8 My heart lit up**

The boys arrived at the festival on time, but of course the girls were late. Neji, Shikamaru, Sasuke and Lee were standing at the table with refreshments, patiently waiting for the girls to arrive. Naruto was nowhere to be found. Chouji, Kiba and Shino joined the guys at the table. They all looked very handsome in their black suits.

"So err... Shino do you still have some chips left?" Chouji asked him.

"No, my bugs ate them all, before I could have some."

Chouji smiled. He felt sorry for him. "Here. You could have one bag of mine. But only this once."

Shino vaguely smiled. "Thanks."

"Don't tell me you were actually planning to wear a green suit." Kiba questioned Lee in disbelief.

"Yeah, why not? It's my favorite color." Lee said calmly.

"Oh man, you're hopeless. Who talked you out of it?" Kiba wondered.

"Gai sensei. He said that a black suit would match our hair more on a night like this." Lee sighed. "He also said that the chance of getting a girlfriend would be higher if I wore black tonight."

"Yeah right. You will never get a girlfriend with that haircut." Kiba laughed.

Right after Kiba said that, two beautiful girls walked up to Lee. Two blonde indentical twins. "Lee, you're looking sexy tonight." They said simultaneously.

Lee gawked at the sight of them. His mouth fell open. He immediately regained his cool self and spoke. "Thank you ladies." He smiled. His teeth sparkled.

"Would you care to join us... in a conversation?" Girl number one said. "Yeah yeah... a conversation." Girl number two said shortly after.

"A conversation?" Lee raised an eyebrow. The girls giggled. "Oh! A conversation. Sure." He laughed. He winked at Kiba. He took each girl by the arm and left.

Kiba's mouth dropped to the floor and his eyes were wide. "Ok, what the hell just happened!"

Right after Lee took off, the four girls arrived. Tenten in her hot, long, darkred revealing gown. Sakura in her stunning, short, black dress. Ino in her amazing, very short, white outfit. And Hinata in her beautiful, high split, strapless, darkblue gown.

The boys looked at them in shock. They were speechless. They walked over to their girlfriends. _"You look beautiful Hinata. Perfect for this evening."_ Kiba thought to himself. He smiled. _"It is time for Naruto's plan to commence."_ He walked over to her. "Hinata you look beautiful." He gave her a friendly kiss on her cheek.

"Thank you Kiba." She looked around, she didn't see Naruto anywhere. "Where is Naruto?"

Kiba smirked. Hinata wondered what was going on. Why wasn't Naruto here? "Please follow me." Kiba said.

"Where are we going?" Hinata asked confused.

"You'll see."

"Tenten. You look... sexy." Neji said to his girlfriend. He kissed her. His tongue slowly slipped into her mouth.

She broke of the kiss. "I can tell that you definitely appreciate the way I look." She grinned. She briefly kissed him.

He smirked. "Come on. Let's go get something to drink."

"INO! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WEARING! Shikamaru screamed.

Ino had a confused look. "Not exactly the response I was expecting."

"What did you expect! Me saying something like, you look hot baby!"

"Uh yeah, something like that." She said dryly.

"Hell no! Think again. How can you expect me to be happy about this? Now every boy on this island will see how sexy you look, NOT TO MENTION THE MEN!"

She laughed. "Haha shut the fuck up sweetie, or at least keep your voice down. I'll just take what you're saying as a compliment." She smiled. "Lets dance." She heard him mumble something about how troublesome a woman she is. She laughed.

Sasuke gazed into Sakura's eyes. He had a warm smile on his lips for once. He placed his hand on her cheek and gently caressed it. He took a step closer. He whispered. "You're beautiful."

"Thank you." She gazed back into his eyes. "You look handsome yourself."

He smirked. "When do I not?" He kissed her. She wrapped her arms around him. It was a long passionate kiss. Sakura was stroking his hair. Sasuke gently let his hand slip down her back, which made Sakura tremble with excitement.

They stopped to catch their breath. "Sasuke. Please tell me I'm not dreaming." She said with her eyes closed.

He ran his hand through her hair. "You're not dreaming." He let his fingers slide over her lips.

She embraced him and whispered. "I love you."

Sasuke closed his eyes and whispered back. "I love you too."

* * *

"Kiba where are you taking me?" He didn't respond. Suddenly she saw a trail of candles in front of them. Kiba stopped and smiled at his friend. She looked at him even more confused. "What's going on? Why are these candles here?"

"Follow these candles, at the end of your journey, a surprise is waiting for you." He said still smiling.

"What surprise? What are you talking about? What the hell is going on?" She said nervously.

Kiba walked away without saying anything else. She watched him leave. _"Good luck Hinata."_

Hinata looked at the candles. "I might as well do as he said." She started following the trace of candles. They led to a place near the lake. There was a helicopter. Inside the helicopter someone was waiting for her. She didn't know him. The unknown pilot told her to get in. She was having second thoughts, but eventually decided to go along with everything. She got in and they took off. They were flying over the lake, when all of sudden the pilot stopped above the center of the lake and ordered her to look outside. Her eyes widened. There was a message on the lake formed by candles. The candles were floating on the water forming the words:

I love you Hinata - Naruto.

It was signed by Naruto. Naruto did all this. It was the last thing she expected. Naruto loved her? She couldn't grasp the idea. She was surprised, excited and overjoyed at the same time. The pilot flew her back to shore. When they landed Hinata saw another trail of candles. She followed them to a dock along side the lake. When she looked up form the candles she saw Naruto waiting for her at the end of the dock in a black suit. He had a bouquet of red roses in his hand. Her eyes sparkled. She walked over to him. "Naruto." She whispered.

He smiled "Hinata, you look absolutely amazing." He paused and laughed nervously. "I had all the words what I was going to say to you in my head, but somehow I'm speechless."

She smiled. "I think you've said it all." Hinata said with a soft voice.

"No I haven't. I haven't... Sweet Hinata. You are the only one who cared for me unconditionally from the moment we met." He paused again. "That is why I brought you here tonight. To show you... To let you know... how much I really care about you. I know you thought that I only saw you as a friend, but recently I realized something…" He grabbed her hand and gazed at it. He looked up into her eyes. "My feelings for you go much further than friendship alone. I started thinking. I don't know what I would do without you. I need you... I love you…"

Hinata closed her eyes when he said those words. A tear fell from her eye. She opened her eyes. Naruto looked at her. "There was another way I could have told you, but I decided to take Lee's advice and totally ignore it."

That remark made Hinata laugh. "Luckily for me, you did."

Naruto laughed with her. He spoke softly. "I like your smile. It is one of the things that I love about you. It lights up the room and my heart." Naruto said seriously. She took a few steps closer and hugged him. Naruto was caught by surprise, but hugged her back. He smiled. "Thank you, Hinata. For accepting and loving me the way I am. Because that's all I can be."

"Thank you for doing the same for me." She whispered back at him. They stared at each other and felt true happiness in their hearts. It felt like the candles. Lit up and warm. They leaned in closer and kissed.

**-Somewhere in the bushes-**

"That's another way to tell her, but I still think my idea was the best one." Lee said with his face covered with lipstick marks.

"Shut up Lee. Come on. Let's leave these two alone."

"But Kiba? My idea was a good idea right?"

Kiba didn't respond. _"Finally Hinata, you're with the one you love. I wish you all the love and happiness in the world."_

"It was, right?"

"Shut up Lee." -

**-The End-**


	9. Extra chapter!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Extra chapter!**

**Chapter 9 Our future**

It has been two weeks since the ninjas all returned to Konoha village. It was hard to fall back in their normal lives routine. Kiba, Shino and Chouji were sent on a mission as soon as they came back. Lee went back to training to forget about the identical twins he had met on the festival. After spying on Hinata and Naruto, he found out that the twins weren't from Konoha village. He cried when he had to say goodbye.

As for our beloved couples…

"Shikamaru? Were are you taking me?" Ino was blindfolded and Shikamaru led her to some place unknown to her.

"You'll see when we get there." He smirked. He kissed her lightly on her cheek. Ino felt some branches sliding across her head. She realized they were walking in the woods. Suddenly they stopped. She could hear water flowing, it sounded like a waterfall. Immediately she had an idea of where they could be. She started thinking real fast. It was Sunday evening and they were at a place near a waterfall. They must be at…

Shikamaru took off the towel. Ino blinked a couple of times and saw that she was right. They were at their special, secret place. Her heart skipped a beat. She felt warm inside. It was unbelievable that she had such a sweet boyfriend. The guy that always said that women were troublesome is doing, what he used to consider to be troublesome, lovely things for her. She looked at him and he smiled at her. "Shikamaru." She whispered. "I…"

"Sst." He placed his finger on her lips. "You don't have to say anything. I know." He took her by the hand and they walked over to the lake. They changed into their bathing suits, which they had on under their clothes. They dived in and swam over to the waterfall. Shikamaru swam through the water coming down. Ino followed him and they ended up in a cave behind the waterfall. They climbed out of the water and cuddled up in a corner of the cavern. Shikamaru wrapped his arms around her. Ino was sitting in front of him and let her body rest against his.

She turned her head and kissed him on the lips. This time she turned her entire body and embraced him without breaking off the kiss. Their tongues were entangled with each other. It was very passionate and intense. Shikamaru's hand was massaging her head. Ino untied his hair and they slowly dropped to the floor. Ino laid on top of him. Shikamaru kissed her back with such love and intensity. Ino tingled all over.

After a while they stopped kissing. They stared at each other. Shikamaru moved away a strand of hair of her face. Ino was looking down on him, smiling. Her beauty, her sweet smile, her soft skin and her supple hair amazed him. From that moment on, **he knew that…**

* * *

Neji was still training in the woods this Sunday evening with Tenten. He had to go on a mission and he would be gone for one week. She was feeling sad, because this would be the last night they got to spend together. Neji noticed that she wasn't as focused as always. They stopped for a second.

"Tenten?" Neji looked at her suspiciously. Tenten looked at him, wondering what he wanted to say. "Is there something the matter?"

Tenten realized that he saw that she was feeling a little bit down. There was no point in trying to hide it anymore. She sighed. "I… it's just that… I will… I am going to miss you." She said while looking down.

Neji walked over to her, he grabbed her chin and gently lifted it up. She stared him in the eyes. A tear fell on the ground, she looked away to the side. He leaned in closer. This made her look straight into his eyes again. He whispered. "Sweetie, listen to me." He grabbed something out of his pocket. It was a brown feather. "This feather is special to me." He looked at it. "When we were fighting to get Sasuke back from the sound five, I was fighting this guy who almost killed me. When I was lying there I regretted the fact that I might not be able to tell you how much I cared for you. Thoughts of you somehow ran through my mind and that kept me going. I wished that I could see you again." He smiled. "When I got well, the medics told me that I was holding something in my hand real tight." He looked her in the eyes. "This feather… They said that some angel probably watched over me that day and that this might be one of the feathers of the wings. I can't think of any angel other than you."

He grabbed her hand and gave her the feather. "Whenever you're feeling lonely, take hold of this and think of me. Wish upon this brown feather and I'll be home sooner than you think." He smiled. "Because after all, my wish came true. I got to see you again."

She smiled back at him. She felt a lot better. "Thank you Neji." She kissed him.

During the kiss he had a feeling. **He then knew that…**

* * *

At the same time somewhere back in the village Naruto and Hinata were having a lot of fun. They went to the theatre and they went to a small carnival. They took some pictures together to remember this day. And Naruto won her a teddy bear.

"Hinata! Lets go get something to eat." He said with a loud voice.

"Ok, where do you want to eat?" She asked him

He grinned. "Ichiraku!" He pointed at the ramen bar.

Hinata smiled. "Ok lets go." They sat down and ordered some ramen. The ramen girl started talking to Naruto again.

"Oeh Naruto! You're here with her again? Are you sure she isn't your girlfriend?" The ramen girl teased him.

"Well actually she is." He answered dryly. Hinata giggled. He looked at her and winked.

The ramen girl was dumbfounded. "Really?" She looked at Hinata surprised. "Are you sure you want him to be your boyfriend? I mean he is rude, he eats a lot of ramen, he is careless, he is almost never serious and not to mention…"

"Ok thank you, we got the picture!" Naruto shouted embarrassed.

Hinata laughed. "Yes I know about his flaws, but you forget that he is strong and kind and sweet and funny and not to mention… he is Naruto." She shyly smiled at him. "And he loves me." She said proudly.

He gently caressed her cheek. "I do." He said softly.

The ramen girl laughed. "Well ok, if that's what you really want, a lazy, mischievous and…"

"Thanks again for drawing a very clear picture!" Naruto shouted again. They all laughed. She went to prepare their order.

Naruto gazed at Hinata. She noticed it and looked at him from the corner of her eye. "What are you looking at?" She questioned him with a smile.

"You." He stroke her hair. "You are definitely worth looking at. There is nothing else that catches my eye, but your beauty."

Hinata blushed. "Naruto I'm impressed. Where did you learn to talk like that?"

Now it was Naruto's turn to blush, he looked away. He mumbled. "Err… Lee taught me."

Hinata laughed. "Haha! Lee! It surprises me that he could give good advice after all." Naruto was now more embarrassed. She took out the pictures and looked at them together. One picture had them as Tarzan and Jane. Another one had them kissing in the Ferris wheel. They also took a picture with a clown. The last picture they saw was the one where Naruto gave her the teddy bear and Hinata kissing him.

"Naruto…" She said abruptly. "No matter what anyone says you'll always be my teddy bear." She kissed him on the lips. He kissed her back. First gently and lovingly. Then powerful and passionately. They stopped and Naruto gave her a sweet kiss on her nose.

"Hurry up with our ramen!" Naruto yelled all of a sudden. His impatience made Hinata laugh. He looked at her. There it was again. That smile. The one that lights up his heart. **He now knew that…**

* * *

Somewhere, the same Sunday evening, the same time Sasuke and Sakura were walking around in the village. Sasuke was walking Sakura home after a long day mountain climbing together.

Sakura sighed. "I had a fun, but exhausting day. Great! We should do this more often!" She said excitedly. She laughed. Sasuke smiled at her.

They were walking side by side. Sasuke pulled her close to him and placed his arm around her shoulders. They continued walking this way. Sakura felt very safe and comfortable in his arms. They looked at each other. She quickly kissed him on the cheek. He kissed her back on her forehead. His soft lips on her skin sent shivers down her spine. They had arrived at her house. Sakura's back rested on her door and she was staring at Sasuke. When he gazed into her eyes he could not believe he once doubted that Sakura truly loved him. He placed his hand next to her head on the door. He leaned in to kiss her. Sakura giggled. She was teasing him by evading his lips. He tried again and she did it again. She laughed.

He smiled back at her. "You're such a tease." He said with a sexy, low voice. He stared at her with such intensity, that she couldn't look away anymore. It was like he placed her under a spell with his eyes. He grinned and made a move to kiss her again. This time she didn't resist. Their lips touched. Her mouth opened a bit and his tongue slipped into her mouth. She had a funny feeling in her stomach. And their kiss became more and more intense by the second.

Now he placed his other hand next to the other side of her head on the door. She embraced him by wrapping around her arms around his waist. Slowly her hand went to the doorknob and she opened the door. They walked in without breaking off the kiss for one moment. She jumped up and Sasuke caught her in his arms. While they were still kissing he walked over to the couch. They stopped to catch their breath. Sakura smiled at him.

He smiled back at her. "You just couldn't resist huh?"

Sakura smirked. He placed her on the couch and went to sit next to her. Sakura asked if he wanted to watch a movie. He nodded and she turned on the TV. They cuddled on the couch.

Sasuke was stroking her hair and when the movie was finished he saw that she had fallen asleep in his arms. He picked her up and placed her on her bed. As he was looking at her sleeping like a baby he had a thought. **He was sure he knew that…**

* * *

_"_**_I am definitely going to marry this girl."_ **

**-The End-  
**(For real this time)

* * *

**Author's note: That isthe end people! I hope you liked my story, just as much as I liked writing it. Thanks to all you reviewers! Tell me what you think. ****Greetszzzzzz.**


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